WASHINGTON/TEHRAN – US President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes the United States will have an agreement with Iran to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz "over the next week".
Asked when the MoU that the two sides have been negotiating will be completed and agreed to, Trump told ABC News, "I think you're talking about over the next week."
Trump said he has not agreed to it yet because he has to "get a few more points", adding that a peace deal with Iran could be "even better than a military victory".
"So it's not an easy thing for them. It's actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we're getting what we need to get," Trump said.
Earlier on Monday, Trump said on his Truth Social that the US-Iran talks "are continuing at a rapid pace", following his announcement that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to halt fire.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Iran has halted talks and exchanges of draft proposals with the United States via mediation in protest against Israel's actions in Lebanon
"There will be no dialogue" until Iran's demands on "immediate cessation" of Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon are secured, it reported.
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A ceasefire in Lebanon is one of Iran's preconditions for accepting the April truce with the United States, but the truce has now been violated on all fronts, it reported.
It added that Iran and its allies have determined "on the agenda to completely block the Strait of Hormuz, and to activate other fronts, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait", in retaliation.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post that violating the ceasefire between Iran and the United States on any front equals violating it on all fronts.
Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the US anti-Iran naval blockade and Israel's escalation of "war crimes" in Lebanon are "clear evidence of US noncompliance with the ceasefire".
