Trump says Iran negotiations to begin on Monday, Hormuz deal ‘imminent’

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday evening that negotiations with Iran were set to begin from Monday afternoon and that a deal over the Strait of Hormuz was “imminent.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said “we’re talking to (Iran) in form of a negotiation… it begins tomorrow afternoon and we’ll see if it’s true.”
Trump said Saudi Arabia believed a deal with Iran was imminent. “A deal is imminent having to do with the Hormuz Strait and ultimately the denuclearization of it,” Trump told reporters.

He said the U.S. remained ready to attack Iran after canceling a major planned strike against the country on Saturday. Trump said talks with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Iran had prompted him to cancel what he described as a “massive attack” on Iran.

Trump’s comments came shortly after Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz were in their “final stages.”

Separately, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told local media that talks with Oman involved setting a transit route through Hormuz that both sides agreed to.

The canceled strike marked some de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran, after the two engaged in continued tit-for-tat strikes over the past two weeks. The U.S. was seen considering attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure– a move Tehran warned would draw bitter retaliation.
The attacks largely undermined a memorandum of understanding between the two countries signed in June, although media reports showed regional mediators– including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar– racing to salvage the peace deal.

Tehran said earlier on Sunday that it had not yet agreed to a deal to reopen Hormuz, and that its policy on the channel remained unchanged. Iran had effectively blocked the crossing in response to U.S. military aggression earlier this year.

Oil prices slid over 4% in early trade on Monday after Trump’s comments on cancelling the strike and holding negotiations with Iran.