Concepts of a Deal
Today’s Wall Street Journal lucidly explains the situation:
Donald Trump has told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran that would lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, saying “both sides must take their time and get it right”.
The US president’s remarks, in a post to his Truth Social platform, came a day after he suggested that an agreement was close, claiming it had “largely been negotiated”.
On Saturday afternoon, Trump said “final aspects and details” of a deal that would open the Strait of Hormuz were “currently being discussed” and would “be announced shortly”.
But his social media post on Sunday morning raised the possibility that talks would stretch beyond the weekend.
“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner,” Trump wrote. He described the back-and-forth as the “exact opposite” of the two years of talks that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 agreement that placed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme and from which the president withdrew the US in his first term.
In a subsequent post he said the deal “isn’t even fully negotiated yet”.
A senior administration official later said the Iran agreement would not be signed on Sunday, but there had been “progress” made towards a deal.
Facing MAGA 