Donald Trump said late last night that an agreement with Iran is expected to be signed today, a move he claimed would lead to the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Posting on Truth Social, the US president said the strategically important shipping route would be “OPEN TO ALL” once the deal is finalized. The announcement comes on what he noted is his 80th birthday.
Trump wrote: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.”
He added: “Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had.”
Trump also took aim at former president Barack Obama, arguing that Obama’s agreement involving Iran’s enriched plutonium created what he described as a “smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon.”
However, Iran’s foreign ministry appeared to downplay suggestions that a “memorandum of understanding” was about to be completed, indicating that any formal agreement may still be several days away.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said: ‘Due to the other party’s instability, we must be cautious about any statements regarding this process.’
It was previously reported that the US President wanted the deal signed today, ahead of the G7 summit in France which begins tomorrow.
Donald Trump – pictured speaking to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House said a deal with Iran will be signed today, the day of his 80th birthday
Mr Trump also slammed former US president Barack Obama deal with Iran on his Truth Social account
It is thought he would hail the agreement as yet another of his victories as ‘peacemaker’.
Mr Trump was also expected to discuss how to de-mine the Strait of Hormuz with other G7 leaders, as well as the rulers of Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
But tensions between America and Iran remained high, with the US Central Command downing a number of Iranian drones overnight yesterday.
They were apparently targeting passing commercial ships in the Strait. An ‘unknown projectile’ hit a ship off the coast of Oman around the same time.
The downing of the Iranian drones followed three nights of intense exchange of fire between the US and Iran.
The prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, first announced on his X account the likelihood of the agreement being signed ‘electronically’ today by both sides.
The agreement would lead to 60 days of truce and pave the way for talks to end and dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme.
‘Technical talks’ would begin on how to either destroy or remove the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium, believed to be buried under at least three nuclear sites the US bombed last year.
But his statement was contradicted by Mr Baghaei shortly afterwards.
Mr Trump remained silent on the deal initially, but eventually re-posted Mr Sharif’s statement on his Truth Social account.
This was followed by his own announcement, which began with him castigating Mr Obama for his ‘bad’ nuclear deal with Iran, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that was signed in 2016.
If the new agreement goes ahead, then in addition to the Strait’s reopening, the US is likely to lift its blockade of Iranian ports.
Mr Trump may also agree to the unfreezing of billions of pounds of Iranian assets that have been held as a result of American and Western sanctions.
Iranian media outlets reported that the US would contribute £224billion towards the reconstruction of Iran, after sporadically bombing the country since February.
But Mr Trump said on social media that such terms had ‘nothing to do with the terms that we agreed.’
Lebanon has remained a sticking point in the agreement, as Iran says it wants a ceasefire in the country as a condition of any deal with America.
But the Israeli government has refused to halt its air strikes, adding that its forces will not leave from southern Lebanon in the near future.
Tomorrow Mr Trump will hold meetings on de-mining the Strait of Hormuz – a global chokepoint through which up to 25 per cent of the world’s oil and gas is shipped through.
Since the beginning of the war, Iran has not only closed the waterway but also laid mines there.
They first shut down the Strait in February, after the US and Israel launched a surprise attack on the Tehran regime, which led to the killing of then-leader Ali Khamenei and most of his family.
