President Donald Trump on Friday angrily rejected Iran’s public account of the terms of a draft deal to end the war and condemned an overnight Iranian drone attack on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, hardening his tone a day after declaring that a settlement was all but done.
In a post Friday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the terms Iran had “leaked out to the Fake News” had nothing to do with what was agreed to in writing, calling Tehran’s negotiators “very dishonorable people” with whom there is no dealing in good faith. He also branded an overnight drone strike that he described as an attack on Indian ships leaving the strait “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” warning that Iran had better “get their act together, and FAST.”
The outburst followed Tehran’s decision to publicize its version of the draft accord. Iran’s state news agency IRNA said the current draft commits Iran to no new obligations on nuclear weapons, with further negotiations set for a 60-day period after any signing, covering the continuation of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the lifting of U.S. sanctions, and mechanisms for compensation and reparations. IRNA said Iran made no commitments in the draft regarding its nuclear program or control of the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said a final conclusion had not yet been reached, the statement Trump appeared to dismiss as “weak and pathetic.”
That version clashes with the picture Trump painted on Thursday, when he called off planned strikes. He said the two sides had reached a very strong memorandum of understanding and that a deal to end the war and reopen the trade route would soon be finalized. Trump said he expected a signing in the coming days, possibly this weekend in Europe, and reassured Israel that any deal would include the removal of Iran’s enriched nuclear material, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which said Israel was not a party to the memorandum.
The dueling accounts extend a pattern. Across weeks of talks, U.S. and Iranian officials have sent repeatedly contradictory signals about the contents of the draft. Iran has previously accused Trump of distortions, noting that his claim that Tehran would reopen the strait without collecting tolls had no basis in the text.
The maritime incident Trump referenced unfolded overnight. A senior U.S. defense official said American forces shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones after Tehran’s forces attempted to strike commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and that traffic through the waterway continued. Iranian state media reported that the country’s forces had fired toward a tanker attempting to cross without permission from Iranian authorities.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
