US President Donald Trump and Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. (Photo: AP/File Photo)
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that a deal to end the Iran war could be signed as early as Sunday, and that the Strait of Hormuz would “open to all” shipping once it takes effect. Iran’s foreign ministry rejected that timeline but said a signing could still happen “in the coming days”. The diplomatic push continued even as Israeli forces carried out fresh strikes in southern Lebanon, with Iran insisting any ceasefire must extend to that front and as Iranian state media announced that funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in a US-Israeli strike in February, will finally begin in Tehran on July 4.
What both sides are saying: Trump has framed the prospective deal in sweeping terms, saying Hormuz, a corridor facilitating transit of a large share of the world’s oil and gas, would open to all traffic as soon as it is signed, and predicting the US would eventually obtain Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. Iran’s position, conveyed through its foreign ministry, is narrower: officials have not disputed that an agreement is close, but have pushed back specifically on Trump’s insistence on a Sunday date, instead stating that signing could come within days. Tehran has also tied any wider truce to a halt in Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a condition Israel has not accepted.
Latest developments
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- Trump says a deal to end the war could be signed as early as Sunday, and that the Strait of Hormuz will “open to all” shipping once it is signed.
- Trump claims the US will eventually obtain Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium as part of the agreement.
- Iran’s foreign ministry has rejected the Sunday signing timeline, saying a deal could come “in the coming days” instead.
- Israeli forces carried out fresh strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, even as Iran insists any ceasefire must extend to the Lebanon front.
- Iranian state media announced that funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader killed in a US-Israeli strike on February 28, will begin in Tehran on July 4, with burial in Mashhad on July 9; his son Mojtaba Khamenei has led Iran since March.
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