Trump said a deal with Iran could be reached in “two or three days,” even after new strikes strained the April ceasefire and kept pressure on Hormuz.
President Donald Trump said early Tuesday that a deal involving Iran could be reached within “two or three days,” repeating an optimistic timeline even after Iran and Israel exchanged strikes that tested a fragile ceasefire in the region.
Speaking to reporters at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after attending the NBA Finals, Trump said the U.S. and Iran were in the final stages of negotiating what he called a “very, very good deal that will not in any way allow nuclear weapons.” He did not provide details explaining why he believed an agreement was so close.
The comments came after the sharpest challenge yet to the April ceasefire, with Iran and Israel trading fire for the first time since it took effect. The renewed hostilities raised fresh concern that the conflict could widen again just as mediators have been trying to turn the truce into a lasting agreement.
Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy shipping route, would reopen “immediately” after a deal. He argued against further bombing, saying a prolonged campaign could keep the strait closed for months and cost lives.
Mediators, led largely by Pakistan, have been working for weeks to bridge differences between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. is seeking limits that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while Iran has demanded sanctions relief and access to frozen assets. Trump has rejected releasing frozen assets before a final agreement, according to the reporting in the source bundle.
A White House official told CNBC that talks aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon were moving quickly and “going very well,” while adding that Trump “is not going to be rushed into making a bad deal.” Sky News Arabia reported Monday that a draft agreement had been sent to the U.S. for review and was preliminarily acceptable to the White House.
The situation on the ground remained unsettled. Iran fired missiles toward northern Israel after accusing Israel of violating the truce through strikes in Lebanon, including Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel said it had carried out a large-scale strike on strategic defense systems in response. Iran’s military later said it was halting offensive strikes, but Tehran warned it could resume hostilities if Israeli attacks continued.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the war against Iran and Hezbollah “has not yet ended,” while also warning that Israel would respond forcefully if Iran resumed attacks. Israel has continued operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group.
Trump has previously predicted an imminent end to the fighting, but the conflict has continued well beyond his earlier expectations. CNBC reported that the war crossed the 100-day mark on Sunday.
Separately, Trump said the pilots of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter that went down near the Strait of Hormuz were “fine” and that no one was injured. He said the administration would release a report Tuesday; the cause of the incident was not yet clear.
The next test is whether the negotiations produce the agreement Trump is forecasting, and whether the latest pause in strikes holds long enough for diplomacy to continue.
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