US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has called off strikes on Iran and that the regime has agreed to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin nuclear negotiations.
"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
According to the American President, "Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others."
He stressed that "the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect until this transaction is finalized. The time and place of the signing will be announced shortly."
Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian regime, denied US President Donald Trump's announcement of an agreement with the United States.
In a statement, the agency wrote that Trump "has already announced 38 times over the past two months that an agreement is close."
According to the sources cited by Axios, Iranian officials told several countries on Thursday that the talks produced an agreement in principle, but Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei still needed to give final approval.
The announcement is a change in tone from earlier in the day, when the President said the military will carry out strikes on regime targets as it has done the past two nights. "The United States will be hitting Iran (whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, anti-aircraft, and all other forms of defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are gone!), very hard tonight."
He added that "at some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America."
Shortly after publishing the post, Trump spoke with Fox and Friends and explained: "They (Iran) have no defense, they can't do anything about it. The only thing they have is fake news. The New York Times writes stories saying that they're doing great, they're not; they've been wiped out."
He insisted that the regime is "dying to make a deal, they want to make a deal so badly." According to Trump, the Iranians "really are in submission, they just don't know it yet.
The President added, "My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don't know if America has the stomach for it; they'd make a fortune, but I don't know if they have the stomach for it. I think they'd like to see us come home."