President Donald Trump said an Iran agreement is scheduled to be signed Sunday and would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Pakistan said a peace deal between Washington and Tehran is nearly ready for the parties to sign.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said Saturday that a deal with Iran to end the war is scheduled to be signed Sunday and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen immediately afterward, while Pakistan said a U.S.-Iran peace agreement is “ready for signatures.”
Trump announced the expected agreement in a Truth Social post, contrasting it with the Iran nuclear agreement reached under former President Barack Obama and saying his deal would prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now,” Trump wrote. “My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement.”
Trump said the agreement would be signed Sunday and tied the deal directly to the reopening of one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” the president continued.
The president said the new arrangement with Tehran would not involve the transfer of U.S. funds to Iran, again drawing a contrast with the Obama administration.
“Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had. Unlike Obama’s Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in payments to them, including 1.7 Billion Dollars in green, cold cash, no money will exchange hands. At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it, whether in Iran, or the United States,” Trump also said.
Trump said he hoped the process would proceed without further conflict, but warned that the United States retained another option.
“We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future. Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly,” he concluded. “If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”
Pakistan also signaled Saturday that a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent. The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sharif spoke by phone with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, and told him a deal between the United States and Iran was close to being signed.
“The Prime Minister expressed his deep appreciation for Qatar’s strong and steadfast support for Pakistan’s peace efforts throughout the Gulf crisis and stated that a peace deal was ready for signatures by the relevant parties very shortly,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif’s office said Qatar credited Pakistan’s leadership for helping guide the diplomatic effort.
“While sincerely appreciating Pakistan’s remarkable efforts for p eace, the Qatari Prime Minister paid tribute to the Prime Minister and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for playing an instrumental role in steering the diplomatic efforts,” the office added. “He assured the Prime Minister that Qatar was proud to extend its support to Pakistan’s endeavors and hoped that this would bring lasting peace to the region.”
The announcements came as retired U.S. Central Command Deputy Commander Vice Adm. Robert Harward said the U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports appeared to be increasing pressure on Tehran to reach an agreement.
Harward told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday that Iran’s need for money was likely driving the push toward a deal.
“Like anything else with the Iranians you just never know,” Harward said about whether the United States and Iran could soon reach an agreement to end the war. “But I will say this — they have been paying the price for the blockade and the economic strangulation they have been suffering from. And so I think that’s what’s driving them now more than ever. They need money.”
“They need money to pay their troops, pay their people. So this has been a big problem for that,” he continued.
Harward said Trump’s strategy appeared aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz while keeping financial pressure on Iran until broader issues are addressed.
“I think the strategy the president has adapted is very astute. Look, open up the straits immediately, get the world economy going, you’re not getting any money or anything yet. Once that is proven and then we can move into negotiations on the nuclear issues, then you’ll be able to sell some of your oil, at least survive for the time being,” Harward added.
U.S. Central Command said in late May that American forces had begun enforcing the blockade on April 13 against commercial ships entering and leaving Iranian ports under a presidential proclamation.
“Our service members are doing extraordinary work,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said at the time. “They have been highly effective by executing the mission with precision and professionalism, allowing zero trade into and out of Iranian ports which has squeezed Iran economically.”
The blockade has also created tension with foreign governments whose nationals work aboard commercial ships in the region. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during a Friday phone call that commercial vessels operating in the Strait of Hormuz must follow U.S. military orders.
The State Department said the call followed recent events in the strait. It came days after CENTCOM accused the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello of attempting to carry Iranian oil in violation of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. CENTCOM said “a U.S. aircraft fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces” in the Gulf of Oman. India’s shipping minister later said Thursday that three Indian seafarers aboard the ship were killed.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke yesterday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The two officials discussed recent events in the Strait of Hormuz,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
“The Secretary stressed that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from U.S. forces as they seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait. He underscored that violations of the U.S. blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated,” Pigott added.
Regional fighting also continued outside Iran. The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that it struck more than 70 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the previous 24 hours.
“The IDF continues to operate against the terrorist organization Hezbollah to remove threats to the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF wrote on X.
“Over the past day, more than 70 infrastructures of the organization were struck, including launchers and buildings used by terrorists of the terrorist organization Hezbollah to advance terror plots against IDF forces and the citizens of the State of Israel,” it added.
“At the same time, terrorists identified in the area where IDF forces operate in southern Lebanon were eliminated,” the IDF also said.
Trump’s announcement, Pakistan’s statement and the continued U.S. pressure campaign point to a possible turning point in the conflict, though the deal had not yet been described in full and its implementation remained dependent on the signatures Trump and Pakistan said were expected shortly.
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