TRUMP: IRAN DEAL 'LARGELY NEGOTIATED'
Iran calls US president's claim 'inconsistent with reality'
Vessels are seen Friday in the Strait of Hormuz near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Field Marshal asim Munir, chief of defense Forces of Pakistan, on Saturday in Tehran.
MIDDLE EAST
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump wrote Saturday that a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal with Iran is "largely negotiated," as both countries and mediators in Pakistan reported progress.
Trump posted on social media that the emerging agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping passage whose closure upended global energy markets after the conflict started when the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28 strikes on Iran.
Trump did not say what else would be included in an agreement. "Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," he said.
Iran's Fars news agency reported early Sunday that the agreement would allow Iran to manage the Strait of Hormuz. It said Trump's assertion that an agreement was nearly final was "inconsistent with reality."
Earlier, Iran said it was working toward a memorandum of understanding laying out an approach to ending the war after its top officials met with Asim Munir, the army chief of Pakistan.
The Pakistani army said the negotiations resulted in "encouraging" progress toward a final understanding. Two Pakistani sources involved in negotiations said the deal being negotiated is "fairly comprehensive to terminate the war."
Sources told Reuters the proposed framework would unfold in three stages: formally ending the war, resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and launching a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement, which can be extended.
Earlier in the day, Trump told Axios that he expected to decide Sunday whether to resume attacks on Iran. "Either we reach a good deal or I'll blow them to a thousand hells," Axios quoted him as saying.
One of the Pakistani sources said there was no guarantee the U.S. would accept the memorandum; if it does, it would lead to further talks after the Eid holiday ends on Friday.
Trump wrote on social media that he had a phone call Saturday with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. Axios reported that the leaders encouraged Trump to agree to the emerging framework.
Pakistan aimed to narrow differences between Iran and the U.S. after weeks of war left the Strait of Hormuz waterway closed to most shipping despite a ceasefire. A fifth of the world's oil supplies typically transit through the key waterway. Trump's approval ratings were hit by the war's effects on energy prices for U.S. consumers.
Despite weeks of conflict, Iran preserved its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium as well as missile, drone and proxy capabilities.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Trump's terms for ending the fighting. "Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The straits need to be open without tolls. They need to turn over their enriched uranium."
Iran denies it is pursuing nuclear weapons and says it has a right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. It demanded supervision of the strait, an end to the U.S. blockade on its ports and the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance returned to the White House on Saturday afternoon, cutting short a trip to Ohio.
"The trend this week has been towards a reduction in disputes, but there are still issues that need to be discussed through mediators. We will have to wait and see where the situation ends in the next three or four days," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.
Baghaei said the issue of the U.S. blockade on Iran's shipping was important, but its priority was ending the threat of new U.S. attacks and the ongoing conflict in Lebanon, where Iran-allied Hezbollah militants are fighting Israeli troops who moved into the south.
Pakistani army chief Munir left Tehran on Saturday after talks with Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Hezbollah said Saturday it received a message from Araghchi saying Iran would not drop its support for the militant group. In a statement, the group added that Tehran's latest proposal submitted through Pakistani mediation to end the Iran war reaffirmed its demand that Lebanon be included in a ceasefire agreement.
Ghalibaf said Iran would pursue its "legitimate rights," both on the battlefield and through diplomacy, but added it could not trust "a party that has no honesty at all" — an allegation Iran made several times before.
He said Iran's armed forces rebuilt their capabilities during the ceasefire and if the U.S. "foolishly restarts the war," the consequences would be "more forceful and bitter" than at the start of the conflict.
