Middle East: Trump cancels strikes on Iran and announces agreement, Tehran says it has not made a final decision

• The American president had threatened to “hit very hard” Iran on Thursday evening.
• But in a new about-face, he canceled these bombings, announcing an agreement with Tehran.
• A nuanced announcement in the evening by the Islamic Republic, which assured that it had not yet made a definitive decision.

A (new) last minute turnaround. While Donald Trump had threatened to “hit very hard” Iran this Thursday, June 11, the American president turned around and announced that he was canceling “the bombings that were planned”. The reason? The leader claims, on his Truth Social platform, to have taken note “due to the fact that the discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran were seen and approved by the highest Iranian authorities.”

Clearly, Donald Trump assures that an agreement has been reached. “The discussions and final key points were, in principle and in detail, approved by all stakeholders, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and others”he continued, adding that the blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until the “transaction is finalized”.

Donald Trump assured me that “the date and place of signature” of this agreement “will be announced soon.”

38ᵉ announcement of imminent agreement

A truce more than strikes? Not so sure. A little later in the evening, the Iranian Fars news agency, citing an anonymous source, denied the American president’s assertions. “No text has been approved for an initial memorandum of understanding with the United States,” writes the media, citing a source presented as well informed and close to the Iranian negotiating team. Donald Trump, however, clarified a few hours later that Iranian Supreme Guide Mojtaba Khamenei had validated what he describes as “very solid framework agreement” et“très détaillé” (“memorandum of understanding”) with the United States. Before Tehran qualifies its position: “So far, Iran has not yet reached a final conclusion regarding the agreement”spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told Iranian state media.

The spectacular turnaround made by the Republican billionaire is reminiscent of that already made on April 8, when he threatened in the morning to annihilate the entire Iranian “civilization” (nouvelle fenêtre)to finally announce a ceasefire in the evening. This time, Donald Trump assured in a morning interview with the Fox News channel that he would lead “new bombings this evening”, “more powerful”, before ensuring that “the United States is going to hit Iran (…) VERY HARD this evening”, on its Truth Social platform.

“In the not too distant future, we will take the island of Kharg”, the main Iranian oil terminal (nouvelle fenêtre), “as well as other petroleum infrastructure”, the leader even assured at the beginning of the afternoon.

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Faced with these threats, Tehran’s main negotiator and president of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, castigated “inadequate strategies and impulsive decisions” who according to him should lead the United States “in an endless quagmire.” New American attacks would lead to war”more extensive”warned the head of the Iranian armed forces, General Ali Abdollahi.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump had already promised an imminent agreement with Iran – for the 38th time since the start of the conflict according to a CNN count -, before changing his tone the next day, accusing the Iranians of “to take a boat” the United States.