ISLAMABAD (AP) — Momentum for a deal to end the Iran war appeared to grow Saturday as key mediator Pakistan said an agreement was closer than “ever before” and Iran made some of its most optimistic statements yet.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media the deal was “scheduled to get signed tomorrow,” and that the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately. Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, however, said “although it will not
happen tomorrow, the possibility that it could take place in the coming days cannot be ruled out."
Each side was expected to sign electronically.
Meanwhile, Trump was expected to discuss demining the Strait of Hormuz during the Group of Seven summit that starts Monday. And Iran’s state-run television said funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the war's opening attack, will take place in July.
A senior U.S. official, who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said Trump planned to meet on the G7 sidelines with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to discuss efforts to wind down the war.
G7 members Britain and France have expressed interest in assisting with demining once the conflict is paused. It was not clear how many mines are in the strait that Iran has effectively controlled since shortly after the war began, virtually shutting down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports in response.
A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a deal aimed at ending the war was expected to be finalized within 24 hours. Pakistan's foreign ministry said the electronic signing ceremony was scheduled for Sunday, but did not provide details.
Sharif told his Qatari counterpart “a peace deal was ready for signatures by the relevant parties very shortly,” another statement said.
Iran signaled optimism but indicated more time was needed. Baghaei said in a statement carried by state TV that "the likelihood of finalizing the memorandum of understanding in the coming days is high.”
Iran has long expressed wariness in negotiations, pointing out that previous talks with the U.S. last year and early this year ended with attacks by the U.S. and Israel.
Baghaei said the memorandum under discussion was focused on ending the war and "at this stage, it has been decided that there will be no discussion of the nuclear issue.”
Iran's nuclear program and highly enriched uranium have long been at the center of tensions with the U.S. and Israel and an international source of concern.
Trump on social media asserted that “when all is calm,” the U.S. would go in and “downblend and destroy” the enriched uranium in Iran or in the U.S.
The apparent breakthrough came after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel earlier in the week, threatening to rupture the ceasefire and push the Middle East back into full-scale war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X on Friday that an agreement “has never been closer.” Trump, who has asserted multiple times in recent weeks the countries were on the cusp of a deal, shared Araghchi’s post on social media.
Trump on Thursday claimed significant progress in negotiations, hours after he threatened to seize Iran’s oil industry.
The funeral, burial and farewell events for Khamenei will occur between July 4 and 9 during Muharram, a traditional period of mourning in the Shiite Muslim calendar.
Khamenei is succeeded by his son, Mojtaba, who is considered less compromising and has not been seen publicly since the war began.
Funeral ceremonies are expected to begin in Tehran and move to Qom, a stronghold of many senior Shiite clerics, then to Mashhad, Khamenei's birthplace. He’ll be buried there at the Imam Reza Shrine, considered the holiest place among Shiite devotees.
Khamenei remolded the Islamic Republic following the death in 1989 of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fiery, charismatic ideologue who led the overthrow of the shah and installed rule by Shiite Muslim clerics.
Khamenei ruled far longer than Khomeini. He greatly expanded the Shiite clerical class and built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the most important body underpinning his rule. The Guard became a military and business behemoth, the country’s most elite force and head of its ballistic missile arsenal — a key target for Israel and the U.S. in the war.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed.
