US President Donald Trump has indicated that the signing of a memorandum of understanding to begin the process of ending the US-Israel war with Iran may still fail.
Asked by reporters Wednesday at the Group of Seven summit in Evian, France, how confident he was that the signing, scheduled for Friday, would proceed, President Trump was noncommittal. President Trump said in various statements that day that Washington would resume bombing if Iran did not “act.”
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“The agreement is great. I’ve been doing this all my life,” Trump said at a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I’ve made deals that were 100 percent and they didn’t happen. I’ve made deals that didn’t have a chance of happening, but they happen and they easily happen.”
“So you never know when it comes to deals, right? But you’ll find out soon enough,” Trump said. “I’m sure it will come true.”
Shortly after, President Trump in another speech hinted that the signing could happen sooner than previously announced, saying, “Tomorrow (Thursday), maybe the day after tomorrow.”
President Trump and his administration have given mixed signals about whether the memorandum will be finalized, with both the United States and Iran saying it would end fighting on all fronts, end the U.S. naval blockade, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The two sides also agree that the initial agreement will only serve as a starting point for 60 days of negotiations on deeper issues, such as the future of Iran’s nuclear program, support for regional proxies, and future control of the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. officials claim the memorandum was already digitally signed on Sunday, suggesting the terms of the deal are unlikely to change.
Neither side has announced these formal terms, but a senior U.S. official read out 14 points in a call with reporters.
The official said that although the memorandum of understanding was signed electronically on Sunday, both sides are free to leave until the final signature on Friday.
US officials said that in addition to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, the US would immediately waive sanctions on Iran’s fossil fuel industry.
The memorandum contained few commitments regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and while both countries would maintain the current “status quo,” it reiterated Iran’s longstanding position that it does not seek nuclear weapons, officials said.
Negotiations over the future of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and nuclear program will take place within a 60-day period.
It is worth noting that the MOU also stated that the United States and its regional partners would develop “a mutually agreed plan of at least $300 billion for the reconstruction of Iran and the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The complete lifting of sanctions on Iran and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Iranian assets will proceed on an unspecified schedule after the agreement is signed.
On Friday, President Trump was asked about the $300 billion reconstruction plan and said he would move forward with it “only if (Iran) is doing the right thing.”
President Trump also drew a distinction between unfreezing Iranian assets and providing direct funding to Iran.
“We took a lot of money from them, and we have their money…It’s not our money, it’s their money, and we froze it at some point,” he said.
“I think we have to give it back. You know, if we don’t give it back, no one will ever invest in dollars again,” he said.
“We’re going to get it.”
The secrecy surrounding the deal has been criticized by both sides of the American political spectrum.
“A month of negotiations with Iran has produced a page and a half of agreement that no one is allowed to see,” Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said in a post on X on Wednesday.
“As a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, we need to see the actual document, not just the tweets, to believe there is an agreement,” he said.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune said members of President Trump’s party are pressuring the White House to release official documents.
“We’re going to get it,” Thune told reporters Tuesday.
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said there were “significant political considerations surrounding the release of the documents.”
“Washington and the Iranian government have publicly highlighted various aspects of the deal, which is being scrutinized by critics from all sides,” Mortabavi told Al Jazeera.
“Releasing the document before it is officially signed and before key details are finalized could intensify political opposition and complicate the implementation process,” she said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview with CBS News on Wednesday that it is Iran and regional mediators, not the United States, that want a slow rollout.
Asked about secrecy, Vance said: “Well, frankly, there are some diplomatic protocols that I don’t fully understand.”
“We’re actually trying to encourage them to sign the deal today, because we want to communicate to the American people what this deal is about,” he said.
President Trump says Iranian leaders are ‘wise’
Meanwhile, in a speech to the G7 on Wednesday, President Trump renewed his praise of the memorandum as a strategic breakthrough, promising that negotiations would ultimately result in a nuclear deal with Iran that exceeds the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) achieved under former President Barack Obama’s administration.
Under the deal, Iran limited its nuclear program and agreed to unprecedented international inspections in exchange for sanctions relief. President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2015.
Trump also claimed that the U.S.-Israel war has indeed resulted in “regime change” in Iran, despite the consensus among experts that not only is the country’s government still in existence, but that some of its new leaders are becoming more entrenched in their hardline stance.
President Trump described the new leadership group as “very smart.”
“I think they’re much less radicalized, and … I think they’re really good,” he said.
Turning to Israel, President Trump again criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military approach to Lebanon, where the Israeli military continues to carry out attacks that threaten to derail the nascent US-Iran deal.
Still, he praised the continued partnership between the two countries.
He added that the US government had sent a “copy” of the memorandum to Israel.
