The New York Times reports Tehran intentionally delayed the finalization of the agreement until 00:30 local time—Monday in Iran and still Sunday in Washington—in order to avoid signing on U.S. President Donald Trump's 80th birthday. The seven-and-a-half hour time gap between Tehran and the U.S. capital allowed both sides to claim the deal was completed on their preferred calendar date.
The New York Times reported Monday morning that Iran deliberately waited until after midnight—00:30 local time—to complete the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the United States, in order to avoid signing the agreement on President Donald Trump's 80th birthday.
According to the report, the seven-and-a-half hour time difference between Tehran and Washington allowed both capitals to claim the deal was completed on their preferred day: Sunday for Trump, Monday for Iran. Tehran had previously ruled out a Sunday signing, accusing Trump of seeking 'birthday publicity'—a position the NYT report now frames as having been accommodated rather than overcome.
As The Zioneer reported overnight, Trump informed Prime Minister Netanyahu he was determined to sign the deal, as Qatar pressed Tehran to finalize it before the symbolic birthday deadline. Iranian officials had separately denied any agreement was imminent, calling reports premature. The NYT report is the first to attribute a tactical timing choice to Iran's decision, and it has not yet been corroborated by other outlets. The exact text or scope of the memorandum has not been disclosed.
The development, if confirmed, would resolve a key symbolic friction in the eleventh-hour negotiations, though two unresolved issues were reported as remaining as recently as Saturday.
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Source and signal
- Internal intake