Trump Claims Iran Deal is Close, Iran Says Statement is 'A Mix of Truth and Lies'
Trump posted on Truth Social today that the U.S. naval blockade of Iran will be lifted, framing it as the centrepiece of a sweeping accord covering the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the demining of the waterway, and the extraction and destruction of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile in coordination with the IAEA.
Per Al Jazeera journalist Ali Hashem, citing a well-informed source, Iran had insisted on a formal public announcement from Trump as the first confidence-building step before any further movement on the understanding. What Iran did not agree to is most of what Trump then put in it.
Tehran's semi-official Fars News Agency has called Trump's statement "a mix of truth and lies" and an attempt to manufacture a "fake victory." Per Fars, the MoU contains no clause obliging Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz without fees, Iran will open the strait on its own predetermined arrangements covering monitoring, inspection, services and security. On uranium, the MoU contains no clause requiring destruction or dismantlement of Iran's stockpile, Fars calls that claim "fundamentally baseless," and Iran's Foreign Ministry has confirmed today that nuclear matters have not even been discussed at this stage.
Trump also made no mention of what Iranian media report as preconditional clauses, the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and crucially, a real ceasefire in Lebanon.
Two days ago, when IRIB reported the same 14-point framework Trump is now claiming as his accord, the White House called it a "complete fabrication" and told the public not to believe Iranian state media. The framework has not changed in 48 hours, the U.S. regime's posture has, now supporting a framework they labelled a fabrication.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismael Baqaei put the question precisely today: "Regarding his announcement on lifting the naval blockade, we need to see what happens in practice; is this a real action or a propaganda claim?"
He also rejected the imperative framing of Trump's post, "nobody can use the language 'should' or 'must' with Iran. Trump cannot tell us what we 'must' do, we decide it by ourselves." The spokesman added that the “Negotiations are still ongoing and a text for the MoU has not yet been finalised”.
Other outlets are running with Trump’s position alone, but there are two sides to this negotiation, and it will take two sides to come to an agreement. Reporting that a deal is imminent, while one side of the deal says the text hasn’t even been finalised, is irresponsible reporting.
We have seen this pattern for seven weeks now, U.S. sources claiming imminent deals, Trump pre-claiming terms Iran has not agreed to, Iran denying the details publicly.
We are not convinced this is what an agreement looks like, and nor should you be. As always, the only deal we believe in, is one that has been signed.