Still no agreement between the United States and Iran

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End of meeting at the White House, but still no decision concerning Iran. Two hours earlier, the deadline seemed to have never been so close. Donald Trump even held out hope of an agreement. “I’m going to have a meeting now in the situation room to make a final decision.”he said.

Immediately, Iran tempers. He always denounces contradictory American positions and points out that no agreement has been reached. He even invites them to renounce demands that he considers excessive. “Reaching a final agreement depends on stopping the attitude of the American side”says Abbas Araghchi, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Among the demands, a 60-day extension of the ceasefire and the full, free and secure opening of the Strait of Hormuz. But above all, at the heart of American demands, the nuclear issue. “Iran must accept that it will never have nuclear weapons or nuclear bombs (…). The enriched material, sometimes called nuclear dust (…), will be dug up by the United States in coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, then destroyed.”said the President of the United States.

On the Iranian side, sources immediately deny these points. Without denying the proximity of an agreement, they denounce a mixture of truth and lies. “Trump claimed that Iran was required to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls while no such clause appears in the text of the agreement (…). And there is no provision for the destruction of nuclear materials”indicates an Iranian source to the Fars agency.

Iran also recalls that negotiations will not move forward without the payment of 12 billion dollars of their frozen assets and, above all, without a complete ceasefire in Lebanon. A more than uncertain point, while the Israeli army intensifies its strikes. Benjamin Netanyahu is delighted to advance ever further on Lebanese soil, more than 30 kilometers from the border. “This is where the battle against Hezbollah is heading, in the North, and I must tell you that the results obtained here are very impressive. Our forces have crossed the Litani River. They are advancing on dominant terrain”he says. A lot of uncertainty, therefore, in the conclusion of a peace agreement. But the financial markets have chosen optimism. Oil prices are at their lowest level in more than a month.