Trump claims to be on verge of approving peace deal with major Iranian concessions

Donald Trump has claimed he could approve an Iran peace deal on Friday that contains major concessions from Tehran, including the opening of the strait of Hormuz and the elimination of the country’s nuclear programme. However, top Iranian officials signalled a final agreement had not been reached. The two versions indicate Trump may once again be practising his “art of the deal” as he seeks to talk his way out of a war that has disrupted global energy supplies and rocked the world economy . Describing the terms of the purported deal on his Truth Social platform, the US president said Iran “must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb”, open the strait of Hormuz for all traffic without tolls, eliminate mines in the waterway and allow the US to unearth and destroy highly enriched uranium from a secure nuclear site in Iran. He also said the deal would preclude the transfer of frozen assets to Iran. Trump also said he would lift the US naval blockade against Iran, although it was not immediately clear whether that would be subject to the agreement being confirmed. “I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination,” he wrote. …