President Trump said Sunday he was in no hurry to complete an end-of-war agreement with Iran after spending weeks insisting Tehran had to quickly make nuclear concessions or face renewed attacks.
“I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social-media platform. The U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping would remain in place until an agreement “is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right,” he said.
The president’s statement followed shortly after a senior Trump administration official told reporters the agreement in principle is for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. ending its blockade on Iranian shipping. Specific details, including on whether Iran would permanently dismantle its nuclear program, remain in flux and would be hashed out in further negotiations.
The official said it could take Tehran’s leadership some time to sign off on the framework, though a delay could also manifest over continued differences between the sides, especially over what economic benefits Iran gets from a locked-in cease-fire or final agreement.
Less than 24 hours after Trump announced the near “finalization” of a pact with Iran, information shared by the president, U.S. officials and Middle Eastern mediators indicates both sides remain far apart on a final accord, leaving the future of the global economy and security in the Middle East still hanging in the balance.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Sunday that Tehran wants sanctions relief and unfrozen assets early in the negotiations process or the touted agreement could fall apart.
“It feels like a breakthrough, but we’ve seen some of these points before and they always broke down once it got to competing interpretations of the details,” said Rory Johnston , founder of oil research firm Commodity Context.
There was widespread concern in Israel that the so-called memorandum of understanding would ease the economic and military pressure on Tehran when a regime Israel considers an existential threat is at a weak point.
Gulf Arab states, meanwhile, were eager to avoid further attacks on their energy facilities and get their oil sales moving again, but were grappling with the prospect that a deal would leave Iran with an overt role managing the strait and emboldened to use military threats to get its way in future disputes with its neighbors after the U.S. armada moves on.
Even in markets, which are certain to cheer the reduced risk that fighting could further crimp energy supplies, analysts were hungry for details of how quickly traffic would be let through the Strait of Hormuz and whether a deal could leave the strategic waterway more vulnerable to future disruptions.
The senior Trump administration official said Sunday the agreement in principle would provide the U.S. and global economy with some needed “breathing room.” The official added there was no specific Washington pledge on unfreezing assets at this point or on any initial lifting of sanctions.
That might be one of the final points to be resolved as Iran insists on upfront assets relief.
Iran also has accepted the principle of disposing of all of its high- and low-enriched uranium, the official said, though how and when that happens remains undecided.
For the next phase, Iranian negotiators indicated they could discuss a shorter suspension of uranium enrichment than the 20 years sought by the U.S. and that stockpiles of uranium enriched above 20% could be diluted inside Iran under regional supervision.
The U.S. would provide Iran with broader sanctions relief commensurate with the steps Iran takes in restricting its nuclear program under a final agreement. The official said Tehran and Washington hadn’t settled on any time frame during which Iran would suspend its nuclear work.
The official said that the number of years Iran is restricted from enriching nuclear material matters less than the strength of an enforcement mechanism to prevent any enrichment.
Middle Eastern mediators separately said the memorandum of understanding would maintain the pause in fighting for at least 60 days, extending the current cease-fire. Iran also demanded that the U.S. release some of its estimated $100 billion in frozen assets and lift some sanctions to allow Iran to sell its oil, they said.
Iran hawks in the U.S. including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) criticized the idea of a deal that would just reopen the strait and potentially leave Iran emboldened. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran would need to accept U.S. terms and comply with them.
“The idea that somehow this president, given everything he’s already proven he’s willing to do, is going to somehow agree to a deal that ultimately winds up putting Iran in a stronger position when it comes to nuclear ambitions is absurd,” he said.
Regional leaders encouraged Trump on a call Saturday to accept a deal with Iran to head off serious damage to regional energy facilities, Gulf officials said. While Gulf leaders are pushing for a diplomatic off-ramp, they were still deeply concerned that the current offer would leave them exposed, the officials said.
Iran had yet to discuss its missile program or provide guarantees that Gulf countries wouldn’t be targeted by Tehran or allied militias in the region, the officials said.
“Iran enters the postwar period with leverage it didn’t have before, because Hormuz is now an established bargaining chip,” said H.A. Hellyer , senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London defense think tank. “The major risk for Gulf Arab states is that this leaves Tehran feeling emboldened and thus interested in making itself more, not less, of a nuisance to regional order.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene his security cabinet Sunday night to discuss Iran, a person familiar with the matter said. Officials are worried about the lack of clarity around the second stage of the negotiations, when the U.S. and Iran would talk about nuclear issues.
In a call on Saturday night with Netanyahu, Trump “reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a post on X on Sunday.
The Trump administration took a similar multistage approach to thorny issues in the war in Gaza, pressuring Israel and Hamas to reach an initial deal to stop the fighting and pushing off questions of Hamas’s disarmament and Gaza’s future governance to a later stage. Seven months later, those issues have yet to be resolved.
Israel also worries the initial agreement could tie its hands in Lebanon, where it continues to fight with the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.
While Trump and Netanyahu continue to speak regularly, Israel isn’t a party to the negotiations and has found itself frustrated by a lack of consultation and updates about the talks, the person familiar with the matter said.
Iran has been a core issue for the Israeli prime minister throughout his political career. A deal that is perceived as weak could hurt him with his hawkish electorate in tight national elections set to take place later this year. The war in Iran hasn’t boosted Netanyahu’s popularity, with his coalition projected to fail to secure a majority, according to polls.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com , Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com and Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com
