Trump said on Saturday that the United States and Iran are nearing agreement on ending their war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime chokepoint central to regional energy shipping. In a message posted on social media, President Donald Trump said the deal is “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other regional allies. He said the remaining work involves “Final aspects and details of the Deal” that are “currently being discussed” and would be announced shortly.
In his remarks, Trump described the initiative as a “Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to PEACE” that still needs to be finalized by the United States, Iran and the other countries involved in the calls. He did not provide deal specifics in the social media post, and there was no immediate response from Iran or Israel to his comments.
Trump said he spoke with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, and separately with Israel. He also said his conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Trump said had pressed the United States to go to war, went “very well.” The comments came at the end of a week in which U.S. officials were weighing a new round of attacks that could break a fragile ceasefire.
Earlier on Saturday, a regional official with direct knowledge of Pakistan-led mediation efforts said the U.S. and Iran were closing in on a deal to end the war. Speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were closed-door, the official cautioned that “last-minute disputes” could still derail the effort. The official said the deal would include an official declaration of the war’s end and would feature two months of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
According to the same official, the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened and the United States would end its blockade of Iran’s ports as part of the prospective terms. The official described the agreement as emerging after ongoing diplomatic work, which included contacts in Tehran and additional support through regional channels.
Iran has publicly characterized the draft in parts, while leaving room for later negotiations on sensitive issues. Iran state TV earlier quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei describing a “framework agreement,” saying it is intended to include main issues required for ending the war and other “issues of essential importance” to Iran, with details to be discussed over “30 to 60 days” before a final agreement is reached. Baghaei said the Strait of Hormuz was among the topics covered.
But Baghaei also told Iran’s IRNA news agency that nuclear issues are not part of current negotiations. In that statement, he said Tehran’s focus at this stage is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and he said lifting sanctions on Iran “has explicitly been included in the text and remains our fixed position.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah media outlet Al-Manar also reported that its Lebanon leader received a letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying Tehran would not abandon its allies, as Lebanon’s own Israel-Hezbollah war continues under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
The remarks from Trump and Iranian officials landed against a backdrop of weeks of threatened and paused escalation. The war began after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, killing top Iranian officials, including the supreme leader, and disrupting nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran. After that start, Iran launched attacks at Israel and at neighbors hosting U.S. forces, which shook Gulf states that had considered themselves safe havens.
A ceasefire has held since April 7, but Iran’s decision to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz for ships carrying regional oil, natural gas and other critical supplies has been a central concern for global shipping and energy markets. The cluster’s reporting also notes that the war’s stated aims have not been achieved, with Iran continuing to maintain an enriched uranium program and a missile program it says is being rebuilt.
Iranian officials and U.S. diplomacy also remain linked to ongoing regional military and political calculations. Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf—identified in the reporting as Iran’s lead negotiator in historic face-to-face talks with the U.S. last month in Islamabad—said Saturday that Iran has rebuilt its military assets and that renewed U.S. attacks would bring results that would be “more crushing and more bitter” than at the start of the war. The reporting said Qalibaf spoke after meeting with Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, who also met with Abbas Araghchi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials, while Qatar sent a senior official to Tehran to support Pakistan’s efforts.
The reporting did not include confirmation from Iran on whether its nuclear program discussions would be folded into the timetable that an anonymous Pakistan-linked official outlined. It also underscored the uncertainty that has accompanied previous deadlines and negotiations—Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off—and the possibility that any “last-minute disputes” could emerge before any memorandum becomes a final agreement.