Trump trumpets ‘big deal’ with Iran, says ‘documents are pretty final’ – What we know so far | Today’s news

President Donald Trump declared on Thursday that the United States has “ended the war with Iran,” heralding what he called a “grand settlement” and suggesting a formal signing ceremony could take place in Europe within days, with Vice President JD Vance expected to represent him.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry directly disputed the claim, saying that no final agreement had been reached and that reports of a deal being reached were “mere speculation”.

Trump’s Iran deal: key claims

In a speech from the Oval Office, Trump described the emerging agreement as a “very strong memorandum of understanding,” while acknowledging that it remained “a little bit conceptual.” He told reporters that the paperwork was nearing completion.

“The documents are pretty final, so we’ll see,” Trump said. “We’ll see. That should be done pretty quickly.”

Read also | Wall Street jumped after Trump said strikes against Iran had been lifted

In a televised endorsement of Georgia Gov. Burt Jones, who is running for governor, Trump framed the outcome in decisive terms.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but today we ended the war with Iran,” Trump said. “They agreed they would never have a nuclear weapon, which we insisted; that was the whole purpose. That was 95 percent of it.”

He described Iran’s nuclear commitment as categorical and comprehensive.

“They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, they agreed to that — they’re not going to, which is the whole reason, which is a big part of the reason,” Trump said. “They will not have, purchase, develop in any way, shape, form, or form a nuclear weapon.”

Iran strikes canceled, Trump claims

The announcement came after Trump called off planned military strikes against Iran that he had announced just hours earlier. In a post on Truth Social, he said the discussions had been elevated to the highest levels of Iran’s leadership.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been escalated to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, as President of the United States of America this evening I have canceled the planned strikes and bombings against Iran,” Trump wrote.

Trump attributed Iran’s readiness to negotiate three days of sustained military action.

Read also | Iran warns FIFA of dire consequences for 2026 World Cup; Here are the details

“We’ve hit them very hard the last three days. We’re going to hit them even harder tonight. They knew it. We told them exactly what we were going to do … they had no navy, no air force, no detection weapons. They have nothing … we won this war militarily very early. The only thing we didn’t win was fake news,” Trump said.

He added: “They were given a chance to build a country. Their country is largely demolished… Everything is gone. Their leadership is gone many times over. Even many people in that leadership are gone. But we found that they are rational and they are going to make a deal.”

Tehran withdraws: “only speculation”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry flatly denied this. Spokesman Esmail Baghaei told state news agency IRNA that reports of a final deal were “mere speculation” and that Tehran had not reached any binding conclusion.

“So far, Iran has not reached a final decision on any deal,” Baghaei said.

He confirmed that Qatar and Pakistan were “active as mediators” but argued that Washington’s changes in position had complicated the diplomatic process.

“From the beginning, the status of the negotiations was clear to us and a large part of the text was already completed. However, the Americans kept changing their positions,” Baghaei said, according to IRNA.

Read also | Trump needs a new Iran strategy

He added that Iran had “demonstrated that it is not compromising on what it defined as its red lines” and said the situation in the Strait of Hormuz had become “less secure due to US actions”.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency, noting that Trump had declared the deal imminent on 38 different occasions in the previous two months, warned: “Until Iran announces the matter of a possible understanding, any messages from Trump on the subject should be considered the same as his previous messages.”

Iran nuclear deal: terms on the table

Trump outlined what the proposed deal would require of Tehran: allowing the US to secure its nuclear materials, halting enrichment activities, dismantling enrichment infrastructure, accepting limits on missile production and ending financial and logistical support for regional armed factions. He said he believed Iran’s supreme leader had personally endorsed the terms.

Read also | The US bombed southern Iran after an Apache helicopter was shot down over Hormuz

“My understanding is that the answer is yes,” Trump told reporters when pressed on whether the supreme leader had given his approval, adding that the blockade of US ships entering and leaving Iranian ports would be lifted immediately after the signing.

Netanyahu: appreciation of Trump’s Iran commitments

Netanyahu, who was reportedly in the middle of a security discussion on Iran when Trump’s Truth Social post appeared, subsequently spoke with the US president and expressed support for the emerging framework.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office issued a formal statement: “Although Israel is not a party to the MOU, the Prime Minister expressed appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement at the conclusion of the talks will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, the limitation of missile production and the end of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region.”

Strait of Hormuz: conditions for reopening

Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route, would reopen once the deal was formally signed, with a ceremony possible as early as Saturday or Monday.

Read also | Oil prices rise as Trump warns of more attacks on Iran

“The strait will open immediately. That signing might happen on Saturday or Monday. We think it will go pretty quickly. I don’t want to say a deadline, because if I say a deadline, you’ll say, Oh, he didn’t meet the deadline. It will be signed. And the strait is open. But the strait has been open for several months, and you knew about it, we didn’t buy it for a few months, I just bought it.” ships across and millions, hundreds of millions of barrels of oil have been transported,” Trump said.

Kharg Island: off the table

Trump has confirmed that the announced planned operation against Kharg Island will be terminated if the deal is concluded.

Read also | Three days of clashes show that the Iran conflict is entering a dangerous new phase

“Now it would be, if we signed this deal, that would be it. They weren’t that excited when they heard that’s what I was put into. I just think I don’t like it,” Trump said.

Qatar and Pakistan: mediators

A Qatari delegation held talks in Tehran earlier in the week, and US officials said the meetings helped resolve several lingering issues, with mediators saying they had “made some breakthroughs”. Iran passed its latest draft of the proposal through Qatari channels earlier this week after Trump returned a revised version nearly two weeks earlier that sought to tighten language on the nuclear provisions.

Countries involved: full list

Citing broad international support, Trump named the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt as nations involved in the approval process.

Markets: Oil falls, stocks rise

Financial markets reacted sharply to news of a possible deal. Oil prices fell and U.S. stock indexes rose sharply on Thursday as investors weighed the possibility of a reduction in geopolitical risk in one of the world’s most important energy transportation corridors.