Donald Trump assured that he was preparing to make a final decision on a possible agreement to end the war with Iran, which asked for an end to the “excessive” demands of the United States. For its part, Iranian diplomacy affirmed Friday evening that no final agreement had yet been concluded.
After exchanges of strikes this week – the most serious clashes since the truce came into force on April 8 – and when negotiations were believed to be in danger, sources in Washington spoke on Thursday of a framework agreement providing for a 60-day extension of the ceasefire.
« Beaucoup de progrès »
And Friday afternoon, Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social network a meeting to make a “final decision”. “Iran must accept that they will never have a nuclear weapon. The Strait of Hormuz must be opened immediately” and Tehran must commit to demining it, said the American president, also asking in capital letters that the enriched uranimum be “DESTROYED “. Its vice-president JD Vance had previously reported “a lot of progress”.
In the evening, the American president announced that he will only sign an agreement if his “red lines are satisfied”.
But Tehran castigated “the excessive demands as well as the changing and contradictory positions” of the United States. “Reaching a final agreement depends on stopping the attitude of the American side,” insisted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a call with his Omani counterpart.
In the same tone of distrust, chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf demanded “acts” from the Americans. “We trust neither promises nor words, only actions count,†he wrote on strengths.
Imbroglio on the terms of the agreement
According to the American site Axios, this memorandum of understanding does not resolve the question of the Iranian nuclear program – which will be addressed later – but includes a commitment from Iran not to seek to acquire the atomic bomb.
On the question of Hormuz, the text provides, again according to Axios, that access to the strait be “unrestricted” during the 60 days of extension of the truce, which implies in particular that Iran removes all mines in the area.The United States would, for its part, lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports if commercial traffic resumes, according to the same source. Tehran would also be allowed to sell oil thanks to a suspension of American sanctions.
Iranian sources, cited by the Fars news agency, however, denied that this condition appears in the agreement. “Trump asserted that Iran was required to open the Strait of Hormuz without toll charges, while no such clause appears in the text of the agreement,” these sources assured. The destruction of Iran’s nuclear materials is not included either, they assured.
