President Trump on Thursday said Iran has pledged never to build or buy a nuclear weapon in an agreement accepted by the US and to be signed in days, marking a breakthrough in negotiations that have been months in the making.
“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And we’re going to be subject to finalization of documents, we should get done over the next few days.”
“[Iran] will not only not have — they will not purchase, develop in any way, any shape, in any way, shape, or form, a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
The deal, which Trump said was approved by Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, is expected to be signed as soon as this weekend, with Trump saying he would send Vice President JD Vance to sign the document in-person, “maybe in Europe.”
“It’s a great thing,” Trump said. “Stock market’s up 1,000 points. That means they like the deal.”
It comes after The Post reported Iran finalized and submitted a draft to Qatari authorities Wednesday night.
But what is in the agreement, which has taken more than two months to achieve? Here’s what we know:
Nuclear negotiations
The memorandum of understanding, once signed, will kick off nuclear discussions between the US and Iran.
Trump’s north star — stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons — is nominally achieved in the text of the MOU itself, as the president said Tehran agreed in the document to never develop or buy a nuclear warhead.
“Most importantly, we have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this, so it was a big, very big thing,” he said.
But words alone are not enough to satisfy Trump, as Iran in its 2015 nuclear deal with President Obama had already promised never to develop a nuke.
That’s why further negotiations will still be necessary, with the US seeking the abandonment of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and the destruction, degradation or transfer of the “nuclear dust” still buried deep below the Iranian nuclear sites the US destroyed in last June’s “Operation Midnight Hammer” strikes.
Trump also promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that he would pursue in negotiations limits on Iran’s missile program and Tehran’s financial support of proxy terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
“The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for President Trump’s commitment that the final agreement at the conclusion of negotiations will include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region,” Netanyahu’s office said in a readout of their call.
Strait of Hormuz
Iran has agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz during a 60-day cease-fire and negotiation period — if the US lifts its blockade of Iranian ports that has been costing Tehran an estimated $500 million per day.
But Trump on Truth Social said that won’t happen until pen is put to paper on the MOU.
“The Naval Blockade will remain in full force and effect until this Transaction is finalized,” he said.
Tehran has claimed ownership of the strait, and in recent weeks set up a “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” to charge fees to commercial vessels seeking passage.
The US has opposed Iran charging a toll for access to the oil chokepoint, which is considered international waters by most of the world.
Details were immediately unclear on what the reopening would look like, and whether it would include efforts to de-mine the strait.
European leaders have previously pledged to help with such efforts in the event of a deal.
“Economic sweeteners”
The biggest mystery remains the issue of financial incentives to bring Iran to the table.
Tehran has previously demanded the release of frozen Iranian assets and the lifting of US sanctions before coming to the table to discuss nuclear concessions.
The US has indicated openness to unfreezing some Iranian assets in exchange for nuclear concessions, but how and when that could happen has been a major sticking point preventing the deal’s acceptance, a US source familiar with the negotiations told The Post.
“Differences to date have been over sequencing, not substance,” the source said.
Details on that issue — which was described as the most important element of the deal for the Iranians — remained sparse Thursday evening.
“Iranians would like some economic relief in any shape,” a regional source familiar with negotiations told The Post. “They want a sweetener.”
Two US officials told Axios on Thursday the to-be-signed agreement made progress on the “mechanism” of how the funds would be released.
Iran has also repeatedly requested the US lift its sanctions, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week told Congress that would only be done if Tehran makes tangible changes to its nuclear program.
That means Iran could see sanctions relief as a result of the upcoming nuclear negotiations, but not before.
