The U.S. and Iran are “closer to a peace deal than ever before,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday.
“With finalisation likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week,” Sharif said in a post on X.
Later in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump reposted Sharif’s remarks on the president’s Truth Social account without comment.
While Sharif suggested the preliminary deal could be signed soon, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted by Iranian state media as saying that caution was needed regarding the timing.
“We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” state media reported. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out. However, due to the hesitation of the other side, we must be cautious in making any comments about this process.”
A senior Trump administration official said Friday that the U.S. and Iran could sign a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz and taking steps to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program in the “next few days.”
But the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the latest developments in negotiations with Tehran, said the U.S. is not “100%” confident that the agreement they reached, called a memorandum of understanding, will be signed at all.
“I maybe would have said 75% this morning. It’s probably more like 80[%]-85% now,” said the official. “But it’s not 100%.”
Iran’s system is “very complicated,” and there are internal fractures within the regime, the official said.
The memorandum of understanding, as it currently stands, also “guarantees a long-term peace in the region” by ending Iran’s funding of violence and imposes “an inspection regime” on the Islamic Republic, the U.S. official said.
If Iran complies, it will be rewarded with “significant” economic relief, including the easing of long-term sanctions and the unfreezing of its assets, the official said.
But those benefits “only accrue if they actually deliver,” the official emphasized. The official also said that the two sides have not yet determined where a deal would be signed.
The U.S. nevertheless believes that both parties like the text in its current form and will “get to a signature within the next few days,” unless “we see issues pop up,” the official said.
Israel and other regional allies are expected to “get on board,” the official said, even after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday morning that Tel Aviv will not withdraw its forces from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and a northern area of the West Bank.
“We don’t expect any country, whether [in] the Gulf Coast or Israel, to give up their right of self-defense,” the U.S. official said. “What we do expect is that if we’re able to have everyone participate in the peace process, that everyone else will do the same.”
The comments came after multiple politicians, including Trump, expressed more optimism than ever that a deal to end the war was around the corner.
Earlier Friday, Pakistan’s Sharif had said a “final, agreed upon text” of a deal between the U.S. and Iran “has been reached.”
Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator between the two countries throughout their war, “is now working closely with both sides to finalize the next steps,” Sharif said in an X post.
“Peace has never been this close as it is now,” he wrote.
Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon that the U.S. had “just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” subject to the “finalization of documents.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X prior to Sharif’s post that a memorandum of understanding “has never been closer.”
All three officials have also pushed back against publicly shared information about the contents of the apparently forthcoming deal.
Iran’s Mehr News Agency earlier Friday reported 14 purported provisions in the draft deal, including commitments from the U.S. to lift oil sanctions, end its naval blockade and release Iran’s frozen funds.
Trump wrote in an angry Truth Social post later Friday morning that the public reporting about the deal has “NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing.”
— Reuters contributed to this report