Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a deal to permanently end the US-Israel war with Iran is “closer than ever”.
Araghchi’s post on Friday’s X is the clearest signal yet from Iran that a potential breakthrough touted by President Donald Trump’s administration could materialize.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Araghchi stressed on Iran’s Press TV late Friday that no deal had been signed.
He said the agreement being considered consists of two stages, the first being a memorandum of understanding and the second being the start of negotiations on several issues.
The first phase would see a cessation of fighting, including Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with a promise not to resume attacks.
He said questions about the future of Iran’s nuclear program, lifting sanctions and unfreezing Iranian assets would be taken up in the second phase of the plan. He added that the Strait of Hormuz will remain under the sovereignty of Iran and Oman, and its future management will be different from the past.
Arraguchi stressed that the original memorandum was still under consideration, pointing to deep distrust of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which twice took office amid ongoing nuclear talks.
Iranian Parliament Speaker and Chief Negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf provided a cryptic message in a post on X.
“Promises made must be kept. There are no ifs, buts, or excuses. There is no other way to ensure close business relations in the future,” he wrote about X.
“You reap what you sow,” he added.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official told reporters Friday that the deal is “not yet at the finish line, but we’re very close.”
The official said the memorandum includes “significant” sanctions relief and the unfreezing of Iranian assets in exchange for Iran agreeing to dismantle its nuclear program and hand over nuclear material.
But he said Iran would not receive anything immediately after signing the deal, and that lifting sanctions and releasing funds would depend on Iran’s compliance.
He said more technical negotiations on several issues would begin after the signing of the first agreement.
The official reiterated an earlier statement by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance that any frozen Iranian assets would not be immediately released even after an initial deal is reached.
Earlier on Friday, US President Trump denounced an Iranian report detailing the terms of the supposed deal, which have not been made public.
He appeared to be responding to an IRNA report that outlined seven key points of the agreement. No new concessions have been reached on Iran’s nuclear program or control of the Strait of Hormuz, the report said, adding that the deal immediately lifts the freeze on some Iranian assets.
U.S. officials rejected this characterization, saying the deal being discussed would dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, destroy its nuclear materials and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
President Trump said in an interview with Axios News on Friday that he still believed there was a chance a new deal could be reached over the weekend.
The report added that Iran privately “apologized for disseminating false information” but noted that it was unclear how the message was communicated.
threats and diplomacy
The latest diplomatic turmoil comes after the United States and Iran exchanged two days of attacks this week that threatened to end a pause in fighting that has flared up several times since April 8.
President Trump and his allies have repeatedly threatened Iran and hinted that a more permanent cease-fire agreement could be on the horizon.
On Thursday, President Trump threatened to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s oil export hub. Hours later, he said he had called off a third wave of U.S. attacks in hopes of an agreement.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington, D.C., that U.S. officials said their biggest demands remain unchanged as part of the pending deal.
“What the White House has promised is that this deal will have a results-based component. In other words, Iran’s nuclear program must be scrapped, enriched uranium must be destroyed or removed, the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened, and there will be no support for regional proxies,” she said.
“Only then, according to White House officials, will Iran’s frozen assets be released,” she said.
Al Jazeera’s Armigdad Al-Hayed, reporting from Tehran, said the terms would need to be circulated through multiple Iranian institutions before a deal could be reached.
“For them to complete this draft, this memorandum, they have to circle a long list of leaders here, starting from the military command and the Revolutionary Guards, politicians in parliament, all the way to the supreme leader,” Al-Hayed said.
“So it’s a long list of leaders who are here to finalize a deal to reach an agreement domestically,” he said.
