President Donald Trump said Saturday that he expects to sign a new nuclear agreement with Iran on Sunday, June 14, following several days of military exchanges between the United States and Iran.
“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had.”
Trump contrasted the proposed agreement with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He argued that the Obama-era agreement provided Iran with a pathway to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“It was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now,” Trump wrote.
“My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON!” he added. “In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement.”
The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran and several world powers, including the United States. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to scale back much of its nuclear program and allow expanded international inspections in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump withdrew the United States from the deal during his first term, arguing it failed to permanently prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Trump also said the new agreement would not include any direct payments to Iran.
“Unlike Obama’s Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in payments to them, including 1.7 Billion Dollars in green, cold cash, no money will exchange hands,” he wrote.
The president further claimed the United States would eventually secure and destroy Iran’s remaining nuclear material.
“At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the Nuclear Dust, buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains, thanks to our beautiful B-2 Bombers and their brilliant pilots, and downblend and destroy it,” Trump wrote. “We look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future.”
The announcement comes after a week of escalating military exchanges between Washington and Tehran.
The latest round of fighting began when Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter, prompting a series of American strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday. According to U.S. Central Command, the strikes targeted Iranian air defense systems, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
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The United States carried out additional strikes on Wednesday, with Trump announcing that the U.S. would halt the bombings on Thursday.
The back-and-forth attacks have raised questions about the durability of the ceasefire announced on April 7, as the United States and Iran. Despite the renewed hostilities earlier this week, Trump has maintained that the ceasefire remains in effect.