Trump says ‘final determination’ to be made on possible Iran deal

United States President Donald Trump says he is meeting in the Situation Room to make a “final determination” on a possible deal with Iran that could extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, deep mistrust remains between the two sides. Iran’s foreign ministry said on Friday that there is still “no final agreement” on a deal with the US, while its top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Tehran would judge any agreement by actions rather than promises as talks continue.

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In his latest post on the Truth Social platform, Trump on Friday set out numerous conditions for Tehran to accept, including: never having a nuclear weapon or bomb, the Strait of Hormuz being open in both directions and without tolls, the removal of any remaining mines left in the Strait, and the US unearthing and destroying Iran’s enriched uranium that is buried.

“Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’” Trump wrote.

“No money will be exchanged until further notice. Other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to. I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination,” he added.

Reporting from the White House, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said that in the past, the Trump administration has indicated that a deal has been reached, only to find out it has not.

“If this was in fact a deal, it would be the entire wishlist of what the US was demanding and none of the concessions that Iranian were asking for,” she explained.

Uncertainty about the details of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has grown over the past week amid ongoing distrust between the two sides as they seek to end the three-month-long war.

On Thursday, White House sources told Al Jazeera that the US and Iran had reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days to allow for formal negotiations, but Trump has yet to sign off.

On Friday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, told state media that no agreement with the US has been finalised so far.

“We said goodbye to the language of ‘must’ 47 years ago. None of the Western parties, when speaking about the Islamic Republic of Iran, can use the language of ‘must’. We make decisions based on the interests and rights of the Iranian people. That’s one point,” he said in a reference to Trump’s post.

“What the Americans refer to as a naval blockade was, from the beginning, an illegal action; it was both a violation of the ceasefire and a disruption of international freedom of navigation,” he said, adding that Tehran needed to see whether the US would follow through on their words.

“If they do this, it actually means stopping an illegal action that they started a few weeks ago and should never have committed in the first place,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Iranian negotiator Ghalibaf said that Tehran did not trust “guarantees and words, only actions are the criterion”.

“No action will be taken before the other side acts,” he said in a social media post, without elaborating.

“The winner of any agreement is the one who is better prepared for war the day after,” the Iranian official added.

Still, Iranian state news outlet Fars, citing sources, reported on Friday that the agreement with the US was in its final stages of ratification, but no final decision has been made yet.

The sources stressed that there were no provisions about destroying Iran’s nuclear materials in the MOU and added that arrangements for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz could include the monitoring and inspection of ships.

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