The prospects for an immediate end to the war between Iran and the US remained uncertain on Friday amid a chaotic series of conflicting claims and counter-claims by US and Iranian officials about ongoing negotiations.
US President Donald Trump seemed to distance himself from his earlier comments that suggested a preliminary agreement could be signed as soon as this weekend, with a series of angry social media posts describing the Iranians as “very dishonorable people to deal with”.
The outburst came after Iranian news agencies close to the regime denied that the terms of any deal had been fully agreed, and published a supposed draft of a finalised deal.
Further adding to the confusion, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, on Friday claimed, in a post on social media, that a final agreed text of a peace deal between the United States and Iran had been reached, without providing any further information.
Neither Tehran nor Washington have confirmed that a final version of the deal has been agreed upon, though one senior US official separately suggested an “80 to 85%” likelihood of an agreement being signed within days.