(AFP) – President Donald Trump said Sunday that he had told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran amid anticipation — and mounting criticism — of an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.
“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed,” he wrote.
The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports since April 13 after Tehran virtually halted traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began February 28.
“Both sides must take their time and get it right,” Trump wrote in the same Truth Social post, while slamming the 2015 nuclear deal that former president Barack Obama agreed with Iran. “Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote.
While the White House has not released aspects of the deal, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday on state television that the two sides were nearing “a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses” in “a trend toward rapprochement.”
According to news outlet Axios, a possible agreement would extend the current ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on Iran’s nuclear program. It cited a senior US official as saying there are still details “to work out,” and the “slow and opaque” nature of Iran’s decision-making system could delay an agreement by another few days.
“Our understanding is that the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has endorsed the broad template of the deal,” the official said. “Whether this becomes an agreement is still an open question.”
In Washington, Republican lawmakers close to Trump were among those expressing fears of an agreement favorable to Iran. The top Republican senator overseeing defense policy, Roger Wicker, said that agreeing to a “rumored 60-day ceasefire” with Iran would mean “everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!”
Texas senator Ted Cruz wrote on X: “If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.”
Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, “we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?”
© 2024 AFP
