Donald Trump has lashed out at Iran’s leadership as “very dishonorable people” after Tehran leaked details of an impending peace deal that the President insists bear “no relation to the truth,” even as both sides signal a signing could take place in Geneva as early as Sunday.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote: “The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing. What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING!” He warned Iran’s leaders to “get their act together, and FAST!”
According to Al Jazeera and the CBC, terms of the proposed memorandum outlined by Western, Pakistani and Iranian sources on Friday appeared to strongly favour Iran, including a stipulation that Tehran would receive “compensation” for damage incurred during US strikes. Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that discussions over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme would take place during a 60-day period following the signing of the agreement, addressing Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium alongside what Trump’s own administration has described as billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
A senior White House official said on Friday: “We’re not quite at the finish line yet, but we’re very close.” A Western source told CBC News that if the language can be finalised, the memorandum could be signed as soon as Sunday by Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, with Geneva emerging as the likeliest venue. Four US Air Force C-17 transport planes flew to Europe on Thursday carrying equipment for the potential trip, a source told Reuters — with Sunday also marking Trump’s birthday.
The diplomatic breakthrough comes against a backdrop of extraordinary volatility. On Thursday evening, Trump announced he had cancelled planned bombing raids on Iran at the last minute, writing on social media: “Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, canceled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.” The threatened strikes would have followed a $250 million bombing campaign carried out on Wednesday evening in response to Iran shooting down a US Apache helicopter, whose two crew members were later rescued near the Gulf of Oman by an autonomous US Navy vessel. Trump also described Iran’s drone attack on Thursday evening targeting Indian ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz as “totally unacceptable.”
Israel, despite having jointly launched the war alongside the US, has so far been excluded from the negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not be party to the memorandum, though his office confirmed he spoke with Trump by phone on Thursday night after the President announced agreement had been reached “on all points.” Axios reported that Netanyahu was reportedly caught off guard by the announcement and had been phoning Trump allies in an attempt to determine the deal’s contents, having been largely sidelined from the final stage of talks. Netanyahu has repeatedly clashed with Trump in recent weeks over US demands that Israel scale back its military operations in Lebanon to allow the Iran negotiations to proceed, and Israel’s defence minister has said the country will not withdraw from territory it currently holds there.
Despite the rift with Washington over the negotiating process, Netanyahu struck a defiant note on the question of Iran’s nuclear ambitions on Friday. “As long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel — Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” he said in a statement, adding that he and Trump remain “in full agreement” on that point. “For over 30 years, I have been at the forefront of the international struggle against Iran’s nuclear program. Were it not for this struggle, Iran would have long ago possessed atomic bombs to destroy Israel.”
The proposed agreement, according to an Iranian source cited by Reuters, would see the US waive sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, unfreeze billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds, and require an end to all hostilities in the conflict — including between Israel and Lebanon, where a separate ceasefire has been in place but repeatedly violated by both sides. The war between the US, Israel and Iran reached its 105th day on Friday.
