President Backs Off Attacks On Iran, Eyes Deal --- Trump says last points resolved for pact; Tehran denies 'final conclusion'

 

“President Trump on Thursday pulled back from his threats just hours earlier to launch more military strikes on Iran and seize its oil infrastructure, saying the U.S. was nearing a deal on peace talks with Tehran.

 

Trump said Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had signed off on the plan, which he said would be completed in coming days, paving the way for additional talks on Iran's nuclear program.

 

Tehran said it hadn't decided.

 

"Iran hasn't reached a final conclusion about the agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, according to state media. "We will announce it when we reach a conclusion."

 

One major hurdle to advancing peace negotiations has been Iran's demands that it access immediately tens of billions of dollars frozen by U.S. sanctions, which would offer relief to its deeply damaged economy.

 

Some people familiar with the negotiations expressed hope that differences between the two countries were narrowing, after they initially sparred over the timeline and mechanisms for releasing the money.

 

Early Thursday, Trump threatened to launch another wave of military strikes to try to force Iran to agree to his terms on a nuclear deal. He said the U.S. military would seize Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure "and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets." Hours later, he abruptly reversed course, declaring a deal was at hand and that Iran would be spared.

 

Also on Thursday, a delegation from Qatar, which is a mediator in the talks to wind down the war, had returned from a trip to Tehran with new language to be incorporated in the draft under discussion between Iran and the U.S., people familiar with the matter said.

 

U.S. officials said Trump received word that Tehran had come closer to meeting his nuclear demands. Trump told his aides it was enough to call off the attack -- at least for now -- giving time to complete a memorandum of understanding and set up a signing ceremony in Europe as soon as this weekend, the officials said.

 

Trump later said that Vice President JD Vance could travel to Europe for a signing ceremony that may take place over the weekend.

 

Qatar's leader, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, said mediation efforts had "led to progress in the proposals under discussion within the framework of ongoing negotiations."

 

Trump has on several previous occasions indicated that a deal is imminent, only for talks to later stall. He didn't discuss the terms of any new agreement during his White House briefing, or whether previous sticking points had been overcome.

 

"The documents are in pretty final shape," Trump said at the White House Thursday, adding that the Strait of Hormuz "will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon, very soon."

 

He didn't give a deadline for the memorandum to turn into a final deal. It "doesn't matter because it is going to get signed," he said.

 

The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in effect until the "transaction" is completed, Trump said.

 

Trump's announcement is the latest back-and-forth in a tumultuous conflict that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran. The two sides announced a fragile ceasefire in early April, but have traded fire on multiple occasions since the truce began.

 

Republican hawks in Congress are publicly pressuring Trump not to accept a deal that would be seen as too soft on Iran or a repeat of 2015's Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA -- the Obama-era nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first administration.

 

"I hope we have in fact reached a diplomatic solution to end the Iranian conflict that will meet President Trump's red lines and be fundamentally different from the JCPOA," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), a vocal Trump ally, said on Thursday in a social-media post. "As in the past, any agreement reached with Iran related to their nuclear program will be presented to Congress for review and approval."

 

U.S. military forces have carried out waves of airstrikes in the past few days after an Iranian drone downed a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. They targeted air defenses, ground-control stations and radar sites near the strategic waterway. But the U.S. has avoided hitting Iran's infrastructure in recent days, U.S. officials said.

 

Iran said it struck back by targeting U.S. military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, raising the risk that the tenuous ceasefire would collapse.

 

Trump's threat to seize Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90% of Iran's oil exports, was considered unlikely. Military planners say such an operation would be extraordinarily complex, require ground troops and pose the risk of U.S. casualties.

 

Thousands of Marines are now aboard four ships from the 31st and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Units, according to U.S. officials.

 

Trump has relied almost exclusively on airstrikes during the Iran war, except for deploying troops inside Iran to rescue a downed pilot.

 

The U.S. first bombed Kharg Island in March, hitting military targets surrounding the island's oil infrastructure. Trump at the time said he chose not to "wipe out" the island's energy terminals but that he would reconsider that threat if Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz closed. In the ensuing months, Iran has maintained a sweeping blockade of most energy shipments out of the strait, roiling global energy markets and ratcheting up pressure on Trump.

 

The U.S. countered with a naval blockade on Iranian oil shipments to choke off the Iranian government's main source of revenue. At the same time, it has quietly continued guiding some commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, using jet fighters and helicopters to defend ships against Iranian missiles and drones, U.S. officials said this week.” [1]

 

One helicopter was downed by Iranian drone, as briefly mentioned before.

 

1. President Backs Off Attacks On Iran, Eyes Deal --- Trump says last points resolved for pact; Tehran denies 'final conclusion'. Seligman, Lara; Ward, Alexander; Faucon, Benoit.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 12 June 2026: A1.