U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal to end the war with Iran and achieve denuclearization is scheduled to be signed on the 14th (local time).
Trump said on his social media (SNS) platform Truth Social on the 13th that "the deal with Iran is set to be signed tomorrow," adding, "Immediately after the signing, the Strait of Hormuz will be open to everyone."
Trump criticized the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) concluded by the Barack Obama administration in 2015 as "an easy and beautiful road to nuclear weapons," then said, "The deal I will make with Iran is the exact opposite," asserting that it will be "a wall to no nuclear weapon."
Trump emphasized that through this deal, the United States will secure Iran's commitment to denuclearization, saying, "Iran no longer wants nuclear weapons and will not possess them in any way." He added, "We will build a relationship completely different from the previous U.S. administrations' Iran policy."
Trump particularly said, "Unlike the $1.7 billion in cash the Obama administration paid to Iran, this time no money will change hands." However, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that the United States and Iran are said to have tentatively agreed to reportedly includes unfreezing assets and sanction relief in return for Iran's denuclearization steps. Accordingly, Trump's remarks are interpreted to mean there will be no cash-like support at the moment the deal is signed.
Trump also said, "At the appropriate time, the United States will step in to secure highly enriched uranium (HEU) buried deep underground," adding, "It can be diluted or disposed of in the United States or Iran." Citing the B-2 stealth bombers and pilots deployed during last year's U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, he claimed, "Thanks to them, nuclear material was buried deep in a granite mountain range." He continued, "We look forward to working with Iran and the entire Middle East," but also said, "If implementation of the deal does not go smoothly, there is a last resort we never want to use again," leaving open the possibility of military pressure.
According to the U.S. political news outlet Axios, the United States and Iran, together with mediators Pakistan and Qatar, are expected to hold a virtual meeting on the 14th to extend the cease-fire by 60 days and electronically sign an MOU that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz and launching nuclear talks.
Initially, there was talk that U.S. negotiating representative Vice President JD Vance and Iran's representative, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, might meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to sign, but it is now known that an online format has become the leading option. As Trump is set to depart on the 15th to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France, the explanation is that constitutional practice requiring the vice president to remain in the United States during a president's overseas trip was taken into account.
However, the final signing schedule is still uncertain. Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said at a press conference on the 13th, "We need to watch further for the timing of the MOU signing," adding, "It may not be signed on the 14th." So far, there has been no announcement that the Iranian government has officially agreed to a "signing on the 14th."