Middle East crisis live: Trump says Iran deal will be signed today but Tehran casts doubt on timing
Key events
Iran media says Tehran ‘not yet’ taken final decision on US peace deal
Iran’s Fars news agency said on Sunday that Tehran has not made a final decision on signing the agreement under discussion with the United States to end the Middle East war, AFP reports.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has not yet taken or announced its final decision concerning the memorandum of understanding proposed during negotiations,” reported Fars, which is close to Iranian conservative circles, citing “a well-informed source close to the Iranian negotiating team”.
The prospective agreement has faced opposition from hardline Iranian figures, who argue that it does not serve Iran’s interests and would deprive Tehran of leverage over the strategic strait of Hormuz.
An Indian national died from medical complications aboard the vessel MT Celestial while it was docked at Duqm Port in Oman, the Indian embassy in Muscat said late Saturday.
“Necessary arrangements are being made for the early repatriation of the mortal remains to India,” the embassy said in a post on social media.
India has more than 300,000 seafarers working across global shipping fleets, according to government data. More than 18,000 Indian seafarers are employed in the Middle East, an official in the country’s shipping ministry said last week.
The death comes days after three Indian seafarers were killed in a US strike on a tanker off Oman, triggering criticism from the public and opposition parties.
Israel army issues evacuation order for 29 south Lebanon villages
The IDF has told people in 29 villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of strikes, AFP reports.
The evacuation warnings come ahead of planned strikes, despite a ceasefire intended to halt the war with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, issued two successive warnings – first for 13 villages, then for 16 more, with the second targeting communities north of the Zahrani river.
Earlier, Israeli military said two drones, suspected to have been launched by militant group Hezbollah from Lebanon, struck northern Israel on Sunday but caused no casualties.
“Two impacts of suspicious aerial targets in Israeli territory were identified near the Israel-Lebanon border. No injuries were reported,” the military said.
In the wake of the strikes, two far-right Israeli ministers called for retaliatory strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.
Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran in effort to finalise deal to end war with US, source and Iranian media says
Qatari negotiators flew to Tehran on Sunday morning as part of effort to finalise an agreement to end US-Iran war, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
US and Pakistan leaders forecast a Sunday signing of a framework agreement to end the more than three-month-long war, but Tehran cast doubt over the timing as hardline protesters in Iran voiced opposition.
Iran’s ISNA news agency reported that an adviser to Qatar’s foreign minister had been dispatched to the Islamic republic, while another Iranian news agency Tasnim said the purpose of the visit was to “go over the latest developments regarding the diplomatic process”.
Donald Trump says a peace deal with Iran is scheduled to be signed today, which would see the strait of Hormuz opened. However, the US president warned if no deal was reached the US has “the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Iran “no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement”.
Recent days have seen the most intense clashes between Iran and the US since a ceasefire came into effect in April. The US president has claimed about 40 times that a deal was on the point of completion, only to revert to threatening Iran with new attacks.
Officials from the US and Iran are trying to frame any deal as a victory. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said on state television on Friday that the draft agreement showed his country had emerged stronger from the conflict.
“Iran is the winner of the war with the US,” he told viewers.
Trump says Iran deal will be signed today but Tehran casts doubt on timing
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Peace talks between the US and Iran grind on with Donald Trump on Saturday saying the US is set to sign a new agreement with Iran today, and claiming the deal would prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while reopening the strait of Hormuz to international shipping.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said: “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL. Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had … Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly. If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”
In other key developments:
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Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Saturday Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing within 24 hours to be followed by technical-level talks next week. “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” Sharif wrote on social media.
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But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, counselled caution. “We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” Baghaei was quoted as saying. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out.”
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Pro-government night-time rallies continue across Iran, and have now been held for more than 100 nights, with some people protesting an agreement with the US. A resident in the north-eastern city of Mashhad told Reuters in Dubai that some protesters chanted: “Death to the compromiser,” in an apparent reference to the foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.
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Meanwhile, Trump discussed the efforts to end the Iran conflict in a call with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Downing Street said on Saturday.
