Trump reverses: claims that agreement with Iran can be signed

The United States has threatened to attack Iran for two nights. President Trump claimed there would be a third night of attacks, and that they would be very powerful. He also claimed they would seize Iranian oil infrastructure.

But the threats and claims were reversed within hours.

"Based on the fact that talks with Iran have been taken to the highest level of the Iranian leadership and approved, I, as President of the United States, have canceled the scheduled attacks and bombings," he wrote in a not-entirely-clear sentence on Truth Social.

At a brief press conference at the White House, Trump said that an agreement with Iran was largely ready for signing.

Probably in Europe, maybe as early as this weekend.

Not a peace treaty

Earlier this week he mentioned Switzerland as a suitable location, but said a meeting with Iran would take place without his presence; instead he said he would send Vice President J.D. Vance.

But it is not a peace agreement, as Trump initially suggested. He called it a memorandum of understanding instead, and in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it is an agreement to "begin negotiations."

According to both leaders, Netanyahu and Trump spoke on the phone, and Israel says it appreciates American efforts to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear energy program and stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, Haaretz writes.

However, contrary to what Trump claimed, Israel has not been part of the agreement nor has it signed anything, according to the Prime Minister's office.

Khamenei approved?

Trump said he believes Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has personally approved the current agreement, but the message from Iran is that the country has not approved any agreement.

However, according to the state-run Fars news agency, the U.S. has approved Iran's proposal, which increases the likelihood that Tehran may also sign it.

The state news agency Tasnim called Trump's post calling off the attack "Trump's retreat" and wrote that no information about an agreement can be taken seriously until Iran announces it. "Trump has announced 38 times in the past two months that an agreement is imminent," it wrote.