US President Donald Trump said he signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, according to The Jerusalem Post. In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stated that the country's defensive capabilities 'will not be discussed in any process or with any party.' The announcement marks the latest development in the emerging US-Iran accord, which Trump has described as 'a wall against a nuclear weapon.'
President Donald Trump said he signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran, a significant step forward in the nuclear accord negotiations. The statement, reported by The Jerusalem Post early Thursday, follows a week of rapid developments in contacts between Washington and Tehran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry, through spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, immediately drew a red line: the country's defensive capabilities, a euphemism for its ballistic missile program, are non-negotiable. This position was laid out more extensively in the spokesman's Thursday press conference — as The Zioneer reported at 01:06 — where Baghaei celebrated Trump's press conference and insisted that missiles are for launching, not for the negotiating table, and that Iran alone controls the Strait of Hormuz.
At 00:34 Jerusalem, a senior US official confirmed to Israeli media that Trump had signed the deal and that it was now in effect — marking the first explicit US on-the-record confirmation of a signed agreement. Minutes later, at 00:34, Trump himself confirmed the signing during a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles. The current bulletin from Tehran, at 03:03, reports Baghaei's rejection of any discussion of Iran's defensive capabilities. Earlier in the thread, the reported a series of conflicting Iranian signals: on Sat Jun 13, 21:26 Jerusalem, Baghaei said the MoU focused on ending the war and deliberately excluded the nuclear issue — a framing that now appears to have been overtaken by the president's own announcement. At 00:56, Baghaei said direct signing by the two presidents is under consideration in Iran, a possibility that now appears to have been realized.
Just hours before the confirmation, as The Zioneer reported at Wed Jun 17, 17:21 Jerusalem, Trump described the emerging agreement as 'a wall against a nuclear weapon.' At 19:20 that same day, Trump added that Iran 'behaves properly' following its agreement. The current development extends a thread in which The Zioneer first reported on Fri Jun 12, 17:42 Jerusalem, that Trump said the war with Iran is over and that Tehran agreed never to hold nuclear weapons.
Whether the MoU Baghaei referred to earlier and the one Trump says he signed are the same document, or whether a new layer has been added, remains unclear. Both the US official at 00:34 and Trump's own Versailles confirmation asserted a signed deal now in effect, but the specific terms beyond Trump's 'wall' characterization have not been released. Baghaei's Wednesday press conference insisted on four hardline positions — regarding missiles, Hormuz, enriched material, and a dual-text agreement — suggesting substantive gaps may remain between the sides' understandings of what was signed.
6 developments
- StrongIran's Pezeshkian strikes ceremonial pose after signing US-Iran MoU
- DevelopingTrump claims other countries have also agreed to the memorandum of understanding
- StrongIran's IRGC-affiliated Fars: no final US deal yet, even if agreed it won't meet Trump's timeline
- DevelopingIRGC denies reports of Geneva agreement signing on Sunday
Source and signal
- Internal intake