Rebuttals from Tehran

Trump: “We’ve ended the war with Iran”

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that the war with Iran is over.(Bild: AFP/KENT NISHIMURA)

“I don’t know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today,” U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday evening. Both the U.S. and Iran are contradicting him—and just a few hours earlier, he himself had threatened to attack Iran “VERY HARD.”

Trump has now claimed a total of 39 times that he is on the verge of a deal with Iran, according to CNN’s tally. But so far, his announcements have come to nothing. On Thursday evening (local time), the U.S. president once again declared that the U.S. had “ended” the war with Iran. He said an agreement had been reached with the Iranians on a “very binding memorandum of understanding.”

According to Trump, Iran agreed never to possess nuclear weapons. “That was the whole purpose; that made up 95 percent of it,” the U.S. president explained. Iran initially denied this: No text had been finalized yet, the Iranian news agency Fars reported, citing an insider. A little later, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated that progress had been made, but that deep mistrust prevailed.

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that the war with Iran is over.(Bild: AFP/KENT NISHIMURA)

Iran should “strike harder”
The problem is that the U.S. side keeps changing its positions, Baghaei reportedly added. “The likelihood of deception by Trump is high,” Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, who advocates a hardline stance, also stated. According to Rezaei, Iran should “strike harder, destroy and annihilate the enemy’s infrastructure, economic centers, and artificial intelligence in the region so that they feel more pain.”

Despite the agreed ceasefire, there have been attacks in recent weeks.(Bild: AFP/ABBAS FAKIH)

Just a few hours before claiming that the war was over, Trump had announced attacks on Iran. On his platform Truth Social, he had threatened that the U.S. military would hit Iran “VERY HARD.” He also said he wanted to capture Kharg Island, which is very important to Iran’s oil industry. Shortly thereafter, Trump called off the planned attacks—citing talks with Iran as the reason.

Trump’s Way Out of the War
A deal—announced nearly 40 times by now—would offer Trump a wayout of the war. After the attack in late February, Trump had emphasized several times that the war would soon be over. More than three months later, the conflict is still raging and Trump’s domestic political position has been significantly weakened.

“No Reliable Evidence”
 IfIran is to be believed, the end of the war is still not in sight. Voices are also being raised in the U.S. urging caution. “At this point, there is no reliable evidence that we have an agreement, and even if there is an agreement, it is still unclear whether it will hold,” Seth Jones, director of the Defense and Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN.

Frank Kendal, former Under Secretary of the Air Force, also noted: “It’s really important to recognize that this is not a final agreement to end this war. It’s an extension of the ceasefire, presumably for about 60 days.”

Struggle over the deal
For weeks now, representatives from the U.S. and Iran have been negotiating a permanent end to the war that the U.S. and Israel started with their attacks on Iran in late February. A ceasefire has technically been in effect for over two months, but there have been several instances of mutual shelling since the truce took effect. Most recently, the positions on a potential framework agreement were significantly apart.