New Delhi: The US president, Donald Trump, announced he was stopping airstrikes on Iran and said Washington was close to a West Asian peace deal, a claim rejected by Tehran on Thursday. Both the US and Iran announced carrying out hits on each other’s military assets during the day.
Trump’s flip-flop on handling the recalcitrant Iranian leadership came after three days of military operations by the US and Iran, which had threatened to dismantle the fragile ceasefire that had held in place for two months. Iran’s foreign ministry dismissed Trump’s claims, noting that no final peace deal had been agreed upon.
“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, a social media platform owned by him. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei responded that large parts of the agreement texts were not final.
Since the war began on February 28, Trump has sought to achieve a peace deal, forcing Iran to give up its nuclear programme, apart from reopening the Strait of Hormuz that it had blockaded soon after the military operations started. Iran would not compromise on its red lines, Baghaei said, adding, “So far, Iran has not reached a conclusion on the agreement.”
‘Peace talks could collapse’
If Trump succeeds in convincing Iran to sign the peace deal, it will mark a major achievement for his administration, which has prided itself, without much evidence, on stopping at least eight wars around the world, including the India-Pakistan four-day military operations in May 2025. Trump has also claimed over a dozen times that he was close to a peace deal with Iran, though Tehran has stuck to its demands on the US-Israel stopping all military operations in the Gulf, withdrawing the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, and unfreezing its assets abroad unconditionally.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that “until a potential understanding is announced by Iran, any news from Trump on this matter should be dismissed.” An Iranian diplomat, in a media briefing, said there was a “50% chance” the peace talks would collapse, though the agreement’s text had been largely agreed to over several weeks. “There are a lot of potential spoilers,” the diplomat said.
Trump, however, continued to claim that the peace deal had been reached, informing White House reporters that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen “as soon as we sign, which would be soon…maybe over the weekend in Europe.” He also noted that Iran’s top leadership and other parties in the region, including Israel, had agreed to the deal terms.
Tel Aviv, however, has been doubtful of a deal with Iran, as it insisted that the war objectives should be achieved first. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, as well as regional powers Turkey and Pakistan, were the other nations that agreed with the deal.
The peace deal could determine a timeline for demining the Strait of Hormuz, while the American naval blockade would continue. The nuclear issues and unfreezing of the Iranian assets would be discussed later.
The office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, released a statement that said his nation was not part of the memorandum of understanding with Iran. However, Netanyahu “expressed his appreciation” for Trump’s efforts to achieve a final peace deal to include removing Iranian enriched uranium, limiting Tehran’s missile production capabilities, and stopping support to its proxy armed groups.
US, Iran attack each other’s assets
Meanwhile, the US and Iran continued to strike at each other’s regional military assets, with the US Central Command (Centcom) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claiming responsibility for the missile and drone attacks. Centcom said on Thursday that it carried out “self-defence strikes” against several Iranian targets on its military commander’s orders. The IRGC said it targeted 18 “important” American military locations in response to Centcom’s attacks on its territory.
Centcom said its strikes were to retaliate for the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz for maritime traffic. The attacks, it said, targeted Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air-defence sites. Centcom said its US marines, air force, and navy assets fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.
On the same day, Iranian media reported explosions in Sirik, Karaj, and Abyek in Qazvin province. IRGC said it hit 18 American military locations in the Gulf region, including Ali al-Salem and Ahmed al-Jaber bases in Kuwait, and Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain, Al Jazeera reported. IRGC commander general Sayed Majid Mousavi warned the US that the region would be turned into “hell” if Washington continued to threaten the Strait of Hormuz security, Press TV reported.
In response to Iranian attacks, Kuwait said it closed its airspace on Thursday. Kuwait’s army posted on X that its air defence systems were countering the “hostile aerial threats” and advised its citizens to follow safety protocols and security instructions. Bahrain and Jordan also issued safety advisories to its citizens after air defence systems were activated, as the West Asian security situation deteriorated.
The security alerts were issued as the US-Iran retaliatory strikes on each other escalated and entered a volatile phase, just ahead of Trump’s announcement to unilaterally stop the airstrikes on Iran, hopeful of a peace deal.