US, Iran say deal closer than ever, as Pakistan says final text âagreedâ
Statement comes as US, Iran officials caution against media reports on terms of possible agreement. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said a âfinal, agreed
Statement comes as US, Iran officials caution against media reports on terms of possible agreement. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said a âfinal, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reachedâ between the US and Iran. Sharif made the statement in a post on X, after both US and Iranian officials warned against trusting reports speculating on the details of a new agreement. âPakistan is now working closely with both sides to finalize the next steps,â Sharif wrote on X. âPeace has never been this close as it is now.â Sharif posted shortly after Iranian â Foreign â Minister Abbas Araghchi said a deal had ânever been closerâ. He added the âmedia should refrain from entering speculation about its contentâ. The message was one of the clearest yet from Iran, indicating an agreement could be imminent. Trump reposted Araghchiâs statement on his Truth Social account. In a call with reporters, a senior US official cautioned a deal was ânot quite at the finish line yet, but we are very closeâ. He said the memorandum of understanding would involve âsignificantâ sanctions relief and the unfreezing of Iranian assets, in exchange for Iran agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program and hand over its nuclear material.
However, he said that Iran would not immediately receive anything upon the dealâs signing, and that the lifting of sanctions and release of funds would be contingent on Iranian compliance. More technical negotiations on several would begin upon the initial dealâs signing, he said. The official echoed an earlier statement by US Vice President JD Vance, who said that none of Iranâs frozen assets would immediately be released. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, meanwhile, said that relevant institutions were meeting as they are in the âfinal stages of summarising the text of the understandingâ. He said he could not comment on the time or place of any potential signing. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeeraâs Almigdad Alruhaid said the terms must be circulated through several Iranian bodies before a consensus can be reached. âFor them to finalise this draft, this memorandum of understanding, it must be circled in a long list of leadership here, starting from the army headquarters and IRGC, the politicians in the parliament, and after that to the Supreme Leader,â Alruhaid said. âSo that is a long list of leadership here to finalise the deal to reach a consensus agreement within the country,â he said.
Iran state media report Earlier on Friday, Trump had taken aim at reports detailing supposed terms of the agreement, which have not been publicly released. He appeared to be responding to an IRNA report that outlined seven alleged main points of the deal. The report said no new concessions had been reached on Iranâs nuclear programme and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the deal would see the immediate unfreezing of some Iranian assets. A US official pushed back on the characterisation, saying the deal being discussed would see the dismantling of Iranâs nuclear programme, the destruction of nuclear material and the Strait of Hormuz re-opened. Speaking to Axios news on Friday, Trump said that he still believed the new deal could be signed over the weekend. He added that Iran had privately âapologised for putting out false informationâ, according to the report, which noted it was unclear how the message was conveyed. The latest diplomatic flurry comes after the US and Iran traded two days of strikes this week, threatening to end a pause in fighting that has seen a handful of flare-ups since April 8.
