Trump says 'peace deal with Iran largely negotiated' after push from West Asian leaders

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a peace deal with Iran "has been largely negotiated", following a call with Pakistani and Gulf mediators, along with officials from Israel. The announcement is potentially paving the way for an end to the ravaging war launched by the United States and Israel on February 8.

In a post on his social media platform TruthSocial, Trump wrote that “final aspects and details” of a “Memorandum of Understanding” are still being discussed and “will be announced shortly”. However, he maintained that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened swiftly as part of the deal.

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“An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalisation between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” Trump wrote in his post. The announcement came right after a Pakistani source told Reuters that Iran and Pakistan had submitted a revised proposal to the United States to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier on Sunday, a regional Pakistani official told The Associated Press that the potential deal would include an official declaration of the war’s end, with two-month negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, the opening of the crucial shipping lane by Iran and an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports.

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It is pertinent to note that there have been hints before the announcement that indirect talks between Iran and the United States are making some progress. During his visit to India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “news” might arrive “later today”, even as Trump continued to threaten striking Iran.

In his Saturday post on TruthSocial, Trump said he had phone discussions with many West Asian leaders, including those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Separately, I had a call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, which, likewise, went very well,” he wrote.

Earlier that day, Trump also met American negotiators, including special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, along with JD Vance, to discuss the latest round of proposals. However, he has also been threatening aggression against Iran.

While speaking to Axios, Trump said he would only sign a deal “where we get everything we want”, adding that if a deal was not reached, the US would begin striking Iran again. Meanwhile, Iran's top negotiator said earlier in the day there would be no compromise over its national rights during a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran.

“Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” he said on state television. Iran's Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the Strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control. It also claimed that Trump’s assertion that an agreement was nearly final was “inconsistent with reality”.