President Donald Trump said Thursday he called off military strikes on Iran, claiming negotiators have achieved a breakthrough toward ending the war that began in February 2026, though Iran’s foreign ministry immediately disputed that assertion.
Trump said the U.S. is close to signing “a great settlement” with Iran, with a memorandum of understanding expected to be finalized “over the next few days,” according to AP News. His announcement came hours after he threatened to escalate the conflict by seizing Iran’s oil industry.
However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement that while mediators remain active and “the text of a deal is mostly finalized,” nothing has been definitively agreed to end the conflict. “The problem is that the contradictions in America’s position have caused turbulence to this process,” the spokesperson told state television.
Trump’s swift reversal from military threats to optimism about negotiations follows a pattern that has characterized his approach to the conflict. In April, he warned Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if it didn’t accept his terms before extending a ceasefire. In May, negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a 60-day extension to the ceasefire that began April 7, 2026, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.
The proposed agreement centers on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping lane that Iran has blockaded, and addressing Iran’s nuclear program. Trump has made preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon a key objective, according to Reuters. The U.S. and Israel launched the war in February 2026 partly to address concerns about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
The back-and-forth strikes this week underscored the fragility of negotiations. After Trump blamed Iran for downing an American attack helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on June 9, the U.S. launched two rounds of strikes, and Iran responded with attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, according to AP News.
A ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has been in place since April, though it remains under constant strain. When Trump set a 60-day deadline for a broader agreement in May, that deadline passed without a final deal, according to Wikipedia’s account of the 2025-2026 negotiations.
Sources
- AP News — Trump’s announcement of calling off strikes, Iran’s foreign ministry response, the memorandum of understanding timeline, and the history of threats and ceasefire extensions
- Reuters — The 60-day ceasefire agreement negotiated in late May 2026 and Trump’s nuclear nonproliferation objectives
- Al Jazeera — The tentative 60-day ceasefire deal and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz
- Wikipedia — The 2025-2026 Iran-U.S. negotiations timeline and the 60-day deadline Trump set
- NPR — Iran’s foreign ministry statement that a deal has not been finalized
