Trump: outlines of Iran deal “coming together nicely”; Tehran: “still far apart”

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the outlines of a deal with Iran were “coming together nicely,” and on Tuesday told the Financial Times that the US was “seemingly getting everything it wants,” playing down the likelihood of an imminent resumption of the war. According to The New Arab, citing unnamed sources, both sides have made compromises and a joint announcement could come soon.

The Iranian side paints a different picture. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the sides were “still far from a deal,” while Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, called the latest US response “unconvincing.” Tehran had earlier said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within 48 hours if the US met its conditions.

Diplomacy under fire

The negotiations are proceeding alongside continued fighting. US officials unofficially described the strikes on Qeshm Island on Monday night as “defensive,” after the IRGC, according to the Wall Street Journal, fired a surface-to-air missile at a US fighter jet. On November 4, Trump confirmed a strike on an Iranian air defence facility.

The New York Times reported that Israel had passed intelligence to Washington indicating that Iran is considering the use of chemical weapons. The paper notes that these claims have not been verified and that US agencies do not claim that Iran has such weapons in operational use.

We published a detailed analysis of Iran’s strategy around the strait in The strait as leverage.