The United States and Iran, locked in a brinkmanship standoff, moved closer to a dramatic end-of-war agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump on the 11th (local time) abruptly canceled large-scale retaliatory airstrikes on Iran and said Iran's top leadership had approved a peace deal. However, Iran is maintaining a cautious stance, saying a "final decision has not been made," and a tense tug-of-war is expected until an actual signing.
President Trump signaled that a cease-fire deal was imminent, announcing the cancellation of the Iran strikes on his social media platform Truth Social. Meeting reporters in the Oval Office, he said, "We just reached a great agreement regarding the war with Iran," adding, "The documents are almost in their final form."
Trump in particular touted Iran's denuclearization as the core achievement of the deal. "The most important part is that Iran agreed never to have nuclear weapons," he said, emphasizing, "They will not purchase or develop nuclear weapons in any shape or form." He added that a signing ceremony is likely to be held in Europe within days, with Vice President JD Vance attending as the U.S. representative. He promised that once the deal is concluded, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a global logistics artery, would be lifted immediately.
Trump's moves swung between hot and cold in a single day. Until the morning, he had threatened to seize Kharg Island, which handles 90% of Iran's oil exports, and bombard it in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. helicopter. But just hours later, he called off the attack, citing an imminent deal, again deploying his signature pressure-then-agreement tactic. The White House claimed the agreement documents had been approved by relevant parties including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. However, some outlets reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only learned of the imminent deal after seeing a social media post during a security meeting, criticizing a lack of prior coordination among allies.
Iran, for its part, dismissed the rosy U.S. outlook and kept up the war of nerves. Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, told state-run IRNA that "reports that a deal with the United States has been finalized are mere speculation," adding, "Iran has not yet made a final decision on any agreement." He said, "From the early stages of the talks, a significant portion of the documents had been settled, but it was the United States that kept changing its position," placing blame for the impasse on Washington. Pars News, a media outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and others also commented, "President Trump has repeatedly made contradictory remarks," and, "Nothing should be taken at face value until an official announcement."
Behind the scenes, negotiations via mediators are unfolding intensely. Qatari envoy Al Thani and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in Tehran late into the night on the 10th to narrow differences. Axios, citing senior officials, reported that the two sides had formed broad common ground on three core issues: a mechanism to release Iran's frozen funds, how to open the Strait of Hormuz during a 60-day truce, and the procedures for denuclearization talks. Iranian officials have told neighboring countries that a tentative agreement has been reached but the final approval process by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei remains. Trump pressed that he would maintain the maritime blockade operation in full until the deal is officially concluded. In fact, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on the 11th reaffirmed its hard-line stance, saying it fired two Hellfire missiles at a tanker attempting to pass through carrying Iranian oil, disabling the vessel.
In Washington and among experts, concerns are also being voiced about Trump's unorthodox tactics. Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Fox News, "Because Trump has issued threats he does not carry out and has repeatedly expressed a strong desire to end the war quickly, Iran will not take these threats seriously." Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal warned strongly that "the president is reacting impulsively and is no longer in control of the situation," and that such inconsistency could lead to a fatal miscalculation reminiscent of the run-up to World War I.