Trump cancels Iran strikes, touts imminent deal

DUBAI/WASHINGTON/PARIS, June 12 (Agencies): A memorandum between the United States (US) and Iran to halt the war in the Gulf could be signed as soon as tomorrow (Sunday), a Western source told Reuters on Friday, with Geneva emerging as the likeliest venue.

The source said language in the memorandum was still being finalised and Iran was sticking to its position that the deal must also end fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has been battling against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

The aim was to finalise the wording by Saturday so the agreement could be signed by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf. No venue had been established but Geneva was emerging as the likeliest.

Trump said on Thursday he was calling off new strikes on Iran because the deal was now ready.

"We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran," Trump told reporters in the White House on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of further strikes against Iran on Thursday and said a deal with Tehran to end the war could be signed in coming days.

Trump's announcement fueled a stock market rally and tanked oil prices, although Iran's position remained unclear, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei saying Tehran "had not reached a final conclusion on the agreement."

Claiming that talks with Iran had been "brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved," Trump said he had "cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening."

"Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly," he promised.

He said the finer points of the arrangement had been approved by the United States and its allies in the region, including Israel, with which Washington jointly launched the war in February.

The Tasnim news agency noted that Trump had announced a deal was imminent 38 times in the previous two months.

"Until Iran announces the matter of a potential understanding, any news from Trump on this subject should be regarded the same as his previous messaging," it warned.

Later Trump doubled down, telling reporters "I understand the answer is yes," when asked if Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader spoke to Trump, who vowed any memorandum of understanding would include the removal of Tehran's enriched nuclear material as well as dismantling of missile infrastructure.

The World Bank earlier in the day revised down its global growth forecast to a level not seen since the coronavirus pandemic, warning of the expanding economic impacts of the war.

But stocks surged and oil futures dropped more than three per cent after Trump's optimistic announcement.

The war-which began February 28 with a wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-paused under an April truce. But efforts to hammer out a permanent end to the fighting appeared stalled.

Tehran's mayor said Thursday the former supreme leader's funeral would be delayed to the end of June or start of July.

Trump's statement suggested back-channel mediation led by US allies like Pakistan and Qatar may have borne fruit-despite previously saying he would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT."

Earlier, Iran has insisted that a final decision on an agreement to end the current conflict with the US has not yet been reached, despite President Trump again claiming a deal was likely to be signed imminently.

Trump had declared the US would strike Iran "very hard" again on Thursday, but later said he was cancelling the strikes because negotiators had "just made a great settlement" with Iran.

He told reporters it was "subject to finalisation of documents, which should get done, over the next few days" and that there would "probably" be a signing ceremony in Europe.

But Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said reports of an agreement were "speculative" and "nothing has been finalised".

Trump has previously claimed a deal with Iran was close without one materialising.

The US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on 28 February. Iran responded by attacking Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz - a key shipping route for the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.

Meanwhile, India summoned a senior US diplomat on Friday for a second time in two days, after American strikes on three largely Indian-crewed merchant vessels off Oman killed three Indians.

The foreign ministry said it had summoned US Deputy Chief of Mission Jason Meeks to lodge "a strong protest … regarding the continuing attacks by US naval forces on commercial vessels carrying Indian mariners."

The attacks "have already resulted in the tragic and avoidable loss of three Indian lives," the ministry said.

Meeks was first summoned to the foreign ministry on Wednesday, after a US strike on the Palau-flagged MT Settebello off the coast of Oman, which killed three Indian sailors.