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Trump meets with aides on Iran deal

A woman crosses a street in front of a painting of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he pondered moving forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the agreement has not been finalized.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump said he was looking to make a “final determination.” A senior administration official later said the roughly two-hour meeting with national security aides had concluded.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say whether Trump had made a decision to sign off on the tentative agreement.

Trump confirmed the high-level talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Trump wrote on social media that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.” He said the strait must be reopened for international navigation and all sea mines destroyed.

Iran’s main negotiator said Friday that it has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, underscoring lingering distrust after the U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran over the past year while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations.

“No step will be taken before the other side acts,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles.”

Later, but before Trump’s meeting concluded, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told a state broadcaster that the agreement “has not been finalized yet.”

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Baghaei, however, said Friday that Iranian officials were “focused on the end of war and are not discussing the details of the nuclear plan at this point.”

Iran also wants any deal to include a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, where fighting has intensified despite a nominal ceasefire. And the Islamic Republic has been seeking the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.

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