President Donald Trump had not made a decision on a deal to extend the current ceasefire with Iran by Friday, leaving the fate of the truce and the nuclear talks tied to a final call he did not announce. After a two-hour Situation Room meeting, Trump said he would make a “final determination,” but the White House gave no sign of approval by the end of the day.
The delay matters because the ceasefire, in place since early April, has been shaky from the start. Both sides have accused each other of breaching it with continued strikes, and U.S. officials said the White House was reviewing an agreement that would start 60 days of discussions with Iran about its nuclear program. As of Friday, neither side had signed off on the draft.
Trump’s public position set a high bar for any deal. He said Iran must agree to never have a nuclear weapon, that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened for “unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,” and that any mines there are “destroyed.” Those demands show why the talks remain unsettled even as negotiators have spent days trying to turn the ceasefire into something more durable.
The gap between the two sides was visible in the competing accounts that followed. A senior Arab official involved in mediating the talks said American and Iranian negotiators had already agreed to the truce terms days ago and that the deal was closed in Doha three days earlier. But Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim outlet reported Friday that changes had been made to the draft text and that it still had not been finalized, a sign the agreement was closer to a draft than a done deal.
Mohsen Rezaei sharpened the criticism from Tehran, accusing Trump of “betraying diplomacy for the third time” and saying he was pursuing “excessive demands” in the negotiations. That kind of language makes the pause in Washington more consequential, because it leaves both the ceasefire and the next phase of nuclear talks hanging on whether Trump eventually accepts the terms or pushes for another round of changes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that Trump was “patient,” wanted a “great deal,” and was ready to restart attacks on Iran if no agreement can be reached.
For now, the unresolved question is not whether the issue will return, but on what terms. Trump has not said when, or whether, he will approve the agreement, and until he does, the ceasefire remains a fragile pause rather than a settled arrangement.
