President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that the United States had reached an initial agreement to end the war with Iran, hours after he had posted that he cancelled planned strikes on the country.
"We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran," Trump said.
Iran's foreign ministry pushed back almost immediately. Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state TV that reports of an agreement were "speculative" and "nothing has been finalised."
According to BBC News, the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on February 28. Iran responded by attacking Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world's oil and liquefied natural gas. Despite a ceasefire agreed in April, the two sides have exchanged intermittent fire, including two rounds of tit-for-tat strikes this week.
Hours before Trump's announcement, he had declared he would hit Iran "very hard."
Trump said the core purpose of the conflict had been to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. "We have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this. So, it's a very big thing," he said. He added there would "probably be a signing, maybe in Europe" once documents are finalized, and that it should be done "pretty quickly."
Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen once the agreement is signed.
Iran's Baghaei acknowledged that most of the text for a memorandum of understanding had been "finalised" but said the US had made "excessive demands" and added "new requests." He said Iran would not "depart from its red lines."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed a conversation with Trump had taken place but said Israel "is not a party to the memorandum of understanding." The statement said Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Trump's commitment to working toward a final agreement that included the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran's support for militant proxy groups in the region.
In the wake of Trump's comments, the price of Brent crude dropped to about $89 a barrel, down 4.4 percent on the day.
Trump said he had spoken with Gulf allies and Netanyahu and offered a broad characterization of the regional reaction: "The whole Middle East is very happy."
