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President Donald Trump announced that he is canceling Thursday’s planned strikes on Iran, saying discussions on a potential peace deal have been “brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”
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“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump added that the naval blockade “will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized.” He said the time and place of a signing ceremony would be announced later.
“Today we settled up with Iran,” President Trump said late on Thursday. “People will start coming home very soon. … We got everything we wanted.”
He called the agreement a “very strong memorandum of understanding,” but also said that it remained “a little conceptual.”
When asked whether Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had agreed to the deal, the president said “I understand the answer is yes.”
Iran has not yet given official word about whether it will accept an agreement.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the text of a deal was “mostly finalized.”
“The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position has caused turbulence to this process,” he said.
Israel, meanwhile, is not a party to the potential deal, according to comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
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The announcement follows several days of exchanges between U.S. and Iranian forces.
U.S. forces struck multiple sites in Iran on Wednesday, including a drinking water facility in the country’s south. The attack left thousands without access to drinking water for about 12 hours.
Iran responded by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. No serious injuries or significant damage were reported, with drones and missiles apparently intercepted by air defense systems.
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Trump has pushed for a deal for weeks, repeatedly saying Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
The U.S. and Israel launched the military operation against Iran on Feb. 28. Several of Iran’s top leaders were killed in the initial strikes. Iran responded by targeting Israel and nearby Gulf nations, as well as shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the conflict, about 20% of the world’s oil and fuel shipments passed through the strait. Its closure has had ripple effects on economies and energy markets worldwide.
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