(AFP) – US President Donald Trump accused Iran on Friday of lying about the contents of a proposed deal to end the war, with the White House insisting Tehran would dismantle its nuclear program. The two sides released starkly different accounts of the proposed agreement, with Tehran insisting on its right to enrich uranium and maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz.
But Trump denied that the terms of the deal favored Iran. “The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network. “What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with,” Trump added. “They better get their act together, and FAST!” Trump wrote.
Trump hinted that a deal was still in the offing as he reposted a statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, saying that an agreement had “never been closer.” A senior Trump administration official insisted the Iranians had agreed to five key points. “This is what they have agreed to. This is a performance-based deal,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s nuclear material will be destroyed and removed, and its nuclear program will be dismantled under the deal, the official said. Iran’s frozen funds will not be released until they meet the conditions; the Strait of Hormuz will be open; and Iran will not fund terrorist groups, the official added.
US Vice President JD Vance also denied that Iran would profit from the deal. “The Iranians are not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting,” said Vance, who led a failed mission to Pakistan in April to seal a deal. “If the Islamic Republic of Iran meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region.”
The optics around money are crucial for Trump, who has repeatedly made the false claim that former president Barack Obama sent a planeload of US cash to Iran as part of a previous nuclear deal. The money was actually Iranian funds that had previously been frozen by Washington. Tehran’s official IRNA news agency said stripping Iran of its enriched nuclear material was not even on the table, while it would insist on managing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The clash over the content of the deal comes as both sides seek to show that they have come out with the upper hand following the war that the United States and Israel launched on Iran on February 28. Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and Iran hawk, said on X that he was “very glad to hear” Trump’s denial about the Iranian reports “because the deal as described by Iran would be awful.”
Trump said on Thursday that the two sides had reached a “great settlement” that would be signed in Europe as soon as this weekend. Tehran said nothing had been finalized. The US president has often announced an Iran peace deal is imminent only for nothing to emerge, with CNN calculating Trump has made the claim at least 39 times since March 23. After a shaky ceasefire agreement on April 7, Trump told AFP that the United States had won a “total and complete victory,” but sporadic clashes have continued since then and a deal has remained elusive.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
