US President Donald Trump said that a deal between Washington and Tehran is scheduled to be signed on June 14 and that the key Strait of Hormuz would reopen "to all" immediately afterward, despite conflicting signals from Tehran.
"The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL," Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 13, describing a potential agreement as a "A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON" for Iran.
The president also suggested that the deal would allow US forces to take possession of Iran's enriched nuclear material and destroy it, "whether in Iran or the United States."
Trump gave no further details on the agreement, expected to be a 60-day memorandum of understanding that lays out a framework for talks on reaching a full peace settlement to end the war that started when the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran on February 28.
While Iranian authorities have yet to comment on Trump's statement, Iranian news agencies earlier cast doubt on the deal being signed on June 14, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson quoted as saying that the signing "will not be tomorrow."
However, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whoose country has been serving as a mediator in talks, set a 24-hour clock ticking on June 13 and suggested a deal was closer “than ever before.”
Sharif’s remarks followed a slew of statements, posts, and comments the previous day by top officials on both sides of the conflict, including Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, indicating diplomatic progress.
Officials in Washington also briefed RFE/RL that a deal was coming together. But there have been false dawns before in the twisting course of the conflict.
Previous optimism has dissipated amid a series of recent breaches of the cease-fire that began on April 8 and a return to belligerent rhetoric from key players.
More kinetic activity was reported on June 13.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a shipping security monitor, reported that a tanker had been hit by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman overnight.
“The crew are reported safe,” it said. “Vessels are advised to transit with caution.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) pounded targets in Lebanon where they are fighting Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy regarded by both Israel and the United States as a terrorist organization. The IDF also reported incoming fire and sirens wailed in northern Israel.
Senior Iranian officials have repeatedly said that a deal with Washington must include a truce in Lebanon.
Countdown To A Deal
US and Iranian negotiators have not met since they held direct talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11-12.
Those talks ended without an agreement but in the two months since then the two sides have been exchanging messages aimed at drawing up a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) via Pakistani mediators.
Given Pakistan’s central role, Sharif’s comments have attracted a lot of attention.
“A final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached,” he wrote on social media on June 12. “Pakistan is now working closely with both sides to finalize the next steps.”
One of the “next steps” that Sharif mentioned appears to be where and how the MoU is signed.
“Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week,” Sharif wrote on June 13, in another post that said “finalization” was expected within 24 hours.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei subsequently suggested that the process may take longer.
“The exact time of signing the memorandum will not be tomorrow,” he said less than two hours after Sharif's comments, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency. “Because of the other side’s hesitancy, we must be cautious in making any statements about this process.”
Each side has offered different views on where and how a deal will be sealed, with Iran also speaking of a digital signing while a White House official told RFE/RL on June 12 that mediators were still considering an in-person signing ceremony in Europe in the coming days.
These are trivial differences compared to the huge divergence of demands each side appears to have on the substantive issues.
It’s been reported that a way around this has been found in which the initial MoU deals with Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports and waters.
This would leave tougher issues, like Iran’s nuclear program, its stocks of highly enriched uranium, and the fate of US sanctions on Iran, for later rounds of negotiations.
But this has not been officially confirmed.
Iran's Brutal Crackdown
Meanwhile, reports from Iran on June 13 suggested an intense crackdown on political opposition within the country, that began during mass protests in January, was continuing unabated.
The Iranian Writers' Association announced Yousef Ansari, a poet and novelist arrested on January 8, had received a sentence of four months in prison plus another eight months suspended.
RFE/RL’s Radio Farda learned that Fereydoun Farahani, a music professor and visiting professor of architecture at Pars University, had been arrested for social media posts he made during the demonstrations.
He had posted a song called "In Praise of the Nation's Desire for Freedom" on his Instagram.
In Isfahan Province the judiciary announced that 100 “traitors” would have their property confiscated, without providing any further details.
For several weeks now, the Iranian authorities have announced similar measures against hundreds of people.
Meanwhile, also on June 13, Tasnim reported a suspect had been arrested for being “in contact with foreign espionage elements.”
Another part of the crackdown has been the increasing use of a new law introduced following the 12-day war with Israel last year, expanding penalties for alleged espionage.
Some of those charged with spying have been hanged, along with dozens of other political prisoners, in recent weeks.
The scale of the repression, which began with security forces killing thousands of protesters in January, has drawn widespread international condemnation.
In recent days, a number of Nobel laureates have raised their voices on this.
Some 13 laureates told RFE/RL that they were among the 75 prize winners listed on a letter organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) -- an exiled opposition group also known as MEK that Iran considers a terrorist organization but which was removed from US and EU terrorism lists more than a decade ago.
These included Barry Barish and Reinhard Genzel, prize winners for physics in 2017 and 2020 respectively, Oliver Hart, prize winner for economics in 2016, and Brian Kobilka, the winner for chemistry in 2012.
The letter expresses “deep and urgent concern regarding the widespread, systematic, and ongoing violations of human rights in Iran.”
“I signed it to protest the execution of political prisoners,” Jack Szostak, Nobel laureate for medicine in 2009, told RFE/RL in an email.
