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‘Peace has never been this close as it is now,’ Pakistan’s prime minister says as he claims ‘final text’ of peace deal has been reached
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Donald Trump is scrambling to secure a peace deal with Iran before the G7 summit with world leaders on Monday.
Iran has said a peace deal has never been closer, yet several contradictory statements have emerged in recent days, including the US president accusing Tehran officials of being “dishonourable”.
“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,” he posted on Truth Social.
A senior US administration official has said the peace deal should be signed “in the next few days”, adding it “accomplishes the core objectives that the President of the United States set out for this mission”.
Swiftly after the Iranian foreign minister’s post, Pakistan’s prime minister said that the “final text” of a peace deal has been reached.
Shehbaz Sharif said Friday that a “final, agreed upon text of the peace deal” between the US and Iran has been reached.
“Peace has never been this close as it is now,” he added.
Iranian state media earlier claimed that a draft agreement between the US and Iran includes a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war in Lebanon.
A Western source said the deal could be signed as soon as Sunday, with Geneva seen as the likeliest venue. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said the deal would be signed remotely before it is announced.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis spoke on Saturday, welcomed the progress in talks and agreed to stay in close contact, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a brief statement.
It gave no further details.
As Donald Trump threatens to escalate attacks on Iran, backs off amid claims that negotiations towards a new deal to end the war are going well, then backtracks on that, there remains a big unanswered question: Can he cut a better Iran nuclear deal than Obama did?
For months, Trump has been simultaneously proclaiming that the war he started against Iran more than 100 days ago is almost at end and boasting that he will end the war with a peace agreement with Tehran that does more to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions than the 2015 nuclear agreement he pulled the U.S. out of during his first term.
During an interview with NBC News last week, he trashed his predecessor for offering “weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States” and argued that Obama and others “allowed [Iran] to get away with murder.”
Read the full story from Andrew Feinberg here:
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has also voiced the possibility of a peace deal being secured with Iran in the coming days.
In an interview on Fox News, Mr Bessent said: “We will see, maybe as soon as this weekend or Monday, we will get on the other side of this.”
Bessent added that the deal will result in lower energy prices for Americans, saying: “I am very confident that the challenging time with gasoline will pass by.”
“My message is the underlying fundamentals are excellent,” Bessent said of the US economy, “and we will be on the other side of this soon.”
The United States is scrambling to get a peace deal with Iran across the line before Donald Trump meets world leaders at a G7 summit on Monday, sources say.
The Telegraph reported that a senior administration official said an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war could be signed within days.
However, despite saying late on Thursday that an agreement had been approved at the highest level in Iran, the US president rolled back his confident statement early on Friday.
“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,” he posted on Truth Social.
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources said, in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.
Word of the move by the UAE to seek de-escalation and which has not been previously reported, coincides with the final stages of broader negotiations between Tehran and Washington on ending the war, talks that diplomats say could involve the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks under U.S. sanctions.
In the past month, the UAE, which was heavily targeted by Iran at the height of the war, has been spared fresh strikes, while Iran has trained its missiles and drones on Kuwait and Bahrain. The last known direct attack by Iran on the UAE was more than a month ago – a May 4 strike on the Gulf state’s Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman.
Two regional sources told Reuters the UAE had agreed to release a total of $10 billion, more than $3 billion of which had already been delivered.
Israel has issued an urgent evacuation warning for 20 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, telling residents: “In light of the terrorist Hezbollah party violating the ceasefire agreement, the Defence Army is compelled to act against it forcefully.”
In a post on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee added: “The Defence Army does not intend to harm you.
“Out of concern for your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River.
“Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, facilities, and combat means endangers their life!”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had an optimistic message on Friday evening about the fate of the Iran war, President Trump’s strategy, and its impact on the global economy.
“We believe that he had to take this opportunity to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” Bessent said on Fox News. “We will see, maybe as soon as this weekend or Monday, we will get on the other side of this.”
He added that he was “very confident that the challenging time with gasoline will pass by” and said that when it comes to the U.S. economy, the “underlying fundamentals are excellent.”
There have been sporadic moments of tension between allies U.S. and Israel in their joint war against Iran — mistimed strikes, lapses in communication, disagreements hashed out on President Trump’s Truth Social feed — and that could continue once a peace deal is reached.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested Friday that Israel retained “the ability to act independently to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
US president Donald Trump rejected claims by Iran that the two sides have agreed on terms to end the conflict, saying Tehran’s account “has nothing to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused Iran of acting in bad faith and dismissed its statement on a deal as “weak and pathetic”.
“The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to,” Trump wrote, adding that Iranian officials were “very dishonorable people to deal with.”
Trump also condemned what he described as a failed Iranian drone attack against Indian ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz, calling the incident “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”.
“They better get their act together, and FAST!” he said.
Iran has not publicly responded to Trump’s latest comments.
JD Vance also said he is seeing a lot of fake information about a potential deal to reopen the Strait and end Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
“First, the Iranians are not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting,” he said.
“The deal is structured to ensure that the US and its allies concerns are prioritized, and that if the Islamic Republic of Iran meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region. This deal has the potential to remake the region and lead to lasting peace.
At the outset of the U.S.-Iran war, U.S. ally Qatar reportedly sought a “secret deal” with Tehran to protect its vital Ras Laffan gas complex, The Washington Post reports.
The proposal would’ve seen Iran keep Ras Laffan off its target list and the Qataris pull back on gas production, sending energy prices spiking.
The effort reportedly fell apart when Iran struck Ras Laffan in a March missile attack on Qatar.
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