President Donald Trump on Tuesday attempted to deflect questions about the content of his purported deal to end the war he started with Iran more than 100 days ago by promising to go over the text of the deal with journalists “in a couple of days.”
Speaking at a bilateral meeting with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed, Trump said he was waiting for a “formal setting” to release the text of the deal.
“I’ll not only release it, I’ll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word, so that the press covers it accurately,” he said before comparing the as-yet unseen text to the detailed nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members during the Obama administration.
The president’s remarks came less than a day after two senior U.S. officials told reporters the text of the agreement would be released publicly for “full transparency” and to prove there are no “side agreements” being hidden from the public.
But Trump appears to be hedging on making the text public after conflicts emerged in the American and Iranian accounts of what is in the agreement, which is supposed to be formally signed at a ceremony on Friday.
While Trump frequently claims the deal includes a commitment by Tehran to dismantle their nuclear program, no release of any frozen Iranian assets until that commitment is fulfilled, and an Iranian promise to not fund proxy groups such as Hezbollah, Tehran says the deal would have the U.S. remove troops the vicinity of their country, release $12 billion in frozen assets immediately, enter into negotiations over the nuclear issue and not discuss anything having to do with proxies or Tehran’s missile program.
On Monday, U.S. officials said the agreement text was digitally signed by Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf. Vance later told Fox News that the agreement text could be released before the tentative Friday signing ceremony.
The agreement does provide for the reopening and demining of the Strait of Hormuz, ending a months-long standoff which has choked off maritime traffic through the key transit point and caused oil prices to skyrocket.
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