LIVE – War in Iran: Tehran tempers Donald Trump’s hopes for an agreement

Donald Trump indicates that he spoke on the telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the proposed agreement with Iran, “separately” from his call with several leaders of Gulf states.

The call “went very well”, says the American president on his Truth Social platform, while the American media have reported in recent days divergent strategies between Donald Trump and his Israeli ally, the first pushing for a diplomatic solution while the second would like to resume fighting.

“An agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization, between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the various other countries mentioned,” Donald Trump said on Truth Social, after having had several telephone conversations with various leaders of the region, including Benyamin Netanyahu.

“The final aspects and details of the agreement are currently being discussed and will be announced shortly. In addition to many other elements of the agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened,” he said.

While negotiations intensify between Iran and the United States, Emmanuel Macron spoke with Donald Trump today, the President of the Republic’s entourage reported to TF1/LCI. He also spoke with several leaders of the region, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. The stated objective was to “maintain the negotiation channel and not resume strikes”.

According to a diplomatic source, France is pushing for “the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations on other aspects.”

The Israeli army indicates that one of its soldiers was killed the day before near the border with Lebanon, bringing to 22 the number of deaths in its ranks since the start of the war with Hezbollah.

Master Sergeant Noam Hamburger, aged 23 and originally from Atlit (north), “fell in northern Israel”, the army said in a short press release. Asked by AFP, she specified that he died yesterday afternoon near the border with Lebanon.

An agreement with Iran “is getting very close,” Donald Trump said in an interview with CBS News.

Regarding the negotiations, “every day it gets better,” added the American president by telephone to the American channel.

Le média américain Axios (nouvelle fenêtre) claims that Donald Trump said he was “divided” (“50/50”) between an agreement between Iran and bombs. He should meet his emissaries to make a decision concerning whether or not to resume hostilities. According to Axios, this decision should be made by Sunday.

Iran said on Saturday that the lifting of the blockade imposed on its ports by the United States and the issue of the Strait of Hormuz were part of the framework of negotiations on an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.

This text mentions “the end of acts of piracy carried out by the United States against international navigation”, affirmed the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaïl Baghaï, on state television, an allusion to the naval blockade announced by Washington on April 12, while the Islamic Republic had de facto blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war, a strategic route through which a fifth of the hydrocarbons consumed in the world transited before the conflict.

“At this stage, we will not address the details of the nuclear issue. We know that our nuclear issue has served as a pretext for two wars of aggression against the Iranian people,” Esmaïl Baghaï declared on state television Irib about the agreement under discussion with Washington.

Even if a “trend towards rapprochement” is observed, all the areas of contention between the United States and Iran have not disappeared, according to the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This rapprochement does not mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on such important issues. It is rather a question of reaching a mutually acceptable solution,” said Esmaïl Baghaï.

“Generally speaking, this memorandum of understanding aims to put an end to the war, American aggression and what they themselves call the naval blockade. The question of freezing Iranian assets is among the main points that will be addressed,” he detailed.

Iran says ending the US blockade is part of the deal being negotiated.

Iran says the nuclear issue is not part “at this stage” of the agreement with the United States.

The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaïl Baghaï, indicated on state television Irib that his country had wanted “first to draw up a memorandum of understanding (…) composed of 14 clauses”. “We are currently in the finalization phase of these memorandums of understanding,” he added.

The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaïl Baghaï, spoke on Saturday of a “trend towards rapprochement” with the United States in discussions with a view to putting a lasting end to the war in the Middle East. “After several weeks of bilateral talks, we are observing a trend towards rapprochement,” he told state television Irib.

Centcom, the central command of the United States, takes stock of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “On May 23, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) forces took a significant step in redirecting 100 commercial vessels as part of enforcing a maritime blockade against Iran.”

“Over the past six weeks, more than 15,000 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have diverted the path of 100 ships, immobilized four and allowed the passage of 26 humanitarian aid ships,” Centcom added.

According to Iranian state television, Tehran reports a “rification” with a view to an agreement with the United States. Iran would even be in the “finalization phase” of a memorandum of understanding with Washington.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Saturday that its leader Naïm Qassem had received a message from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, assuring that Iran “will not renounce its support for movements which demand justice and freedom, first and foremost Hezbollah”.

In the latest Iranian proposal transmitted to Washington by Pakistani mediators aimed at obtaining “a permanent end” to the war, the request to include Lebanon in the ceasefire was put forward, the press release added.

The Iranian proposal for an agreement asks Washington to include Lebanon in the truce, says Hezbollah.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “a chance” that Iran would accept a deal to end the war as early as Saturday.

“It is possible that later today, tomorrow or in a few days we will have information to communicate,” Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi, adding that he hoped to have “good news”.

The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike targeted a barracks in the south of the country on Saturday, wounding a soldier, despite a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement. “A soldier was injured following a hostile Israeli strike targeting a military barracks in the town of Nabatié,” the army said in a statement published on social networks.

Avichay Adraee, Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli army, published on his (Marjayoun), Deir Qifa, Harouf, Jibshit.

“In light of the terrorist party Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Defense Forces are forced to act forcefully against it,” he wrote.

The Israeli army announced Saturday afternoon imminent strikes on several villages in southern Lebanon located north of the Litani River and from which it is asking the population to evacuate without delay.

In an “urgent warning” published on social networks, Colonel Avichay Adraee, Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, calls on the inhabitants of around ten villages around the localities of Nabatiyé and Marjayoun to evacuate “to [leur] security” in anticipation of strikes against the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of Iran.

Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on Saturday promised a “crushing” response if the United States resumed its war against Iran, saying his country had “rebuilt” its armed forces during the truce with the United States, in effect since April 8.

“Our armed forces have rebuilt during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another senseless act and restarts the war, (the consequences) will certainly be much more crushing and bitter for the United States than the first day of the war,” he said on social networks.

One of the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian ideological army, has recently targeted the United States and its allied countries, including Israel. “All armed forces are more ready than ever and are fully prepared. If the enemy makes the slightest mistake, if he miscalculates again, they will respond with strength and determination, in a harsher and more painful manner than before,” said Hassan Hassanzadeh, commander of the Mohammad Rasulallah Guards Corps of the revolution.

More than 1.5 million Muslim pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia from abroad for the hajj, according to a local official, already surpassing last year’s number of visitors despite the war in the Middle East. A figure which should increase further by the start of the pilgrimage on Monday.

This year, the hajj is being held against the backdrop of fears of a resumption of the conflict, which saw the Islamic Republic target its Gulf neighbors, allies of Washington, in retaliation for the Israeli-American attack on Tehran. These hostilities have led to a drop in tourism in these countries, air disruptions and a surge in the cost of travel. After weeks of airspace closure and flight cancellations, the major airlines of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain were able to restore a large part of their operational capacities.

What is blocking the negotiations, from Tehran’s point of view? The Iranians consider American demands “excessive” in three major issues: nuclear power, the Strait of Hormuz and war reparations that Washington refuses to pay. Details from journalist Siavosh Ghazi, France 24 and RFI correspondent in Iran.

Donald Trump returned to the White House on Saturday “even though he had planned to spend the weekend at his golf course in New Jersey”, reports Sonia Dridi, TF1-LCI correspondent in the United States. “He wrote on his Truth social network that he felt he had to be in Washington during this ‘important’ period,” continues our journalist, who specifies that the American president announced that he would not go to his son’s wedding planned for this weekend.

While several American media are talking about a possible resumption of American strikes in Iran in a context of tense negotiations, the Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia support the diplomatic route for several reasons. Our special correspondent in Doha, Qatar, takes stock in the LCI morning show.

The head of the Pakistani army, a mediating country in the conflict between the United States and Iran, went to Tehran on Friday to try to end the war, against a backdrop of Donald Trump’s threat to resume his strikes in a conflict which is seriously disrupting the world economy.

“Marshal Asim Munir has arrived in Tehran as part of ongoing mediation efforts,” the Pakistani army announced in a statement late in the day.

Two Israeli strikes killed ten people on Friday – including six rescuers and a little girl – in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced, despite the ceasefire between Israel and pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

“A strike on the village of Deir Qanoune al-Nahr, in the Tire region,” killed six people, including two rescue workers affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, allied with Hezbollah, as well as a young Syrian girl, according to the authorities.

The American government is considering new strikes against Iran, Axios and CBS media reported on Friday, while Donald Trump changed his schedule to stay in Washington this weekend, fueling speculation about a possible resumption of hostilities against Tehran.

Iran accused the United States on Saturday of sabotaging negotiations to end the war with “excessive demands”, a change in Donald Trump’s agenda at the same time fueling speculation about a resumption of hostilities.

In a conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the head of Iranian diplomacy Abbas Araghchi complained about the “repeated contradictory positions and excessive demands” of the United States, reported the Tasnim and Fars agencies.

Welcome to our direct dedicated to the news of the war in Iran. Follow here, throughout the day, the latest information on the conflict between Tehran and Washington.