Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security cabinet meeting tomorrow evening, Israeli media reports said, following new developments in US-Iran talks. The move comes after Donald Trump announced that Washington and Tehran would proceed with the signing of a memorandum of understanding. Senior Israeli officials are expressing strong concerns about the content of the agreement, claiming that the terms of the memorandum “endanger Israel’s security interests.”
The same sources say the United States has reportedly accepted “key demands” from Tehran, an element that raises concerns in Israel about the direction of the negotiations. The US president said in a tweet that the agreement with Iran “is scheduled to be signed tomorrow,” Sunday.
Since Thursday, when Trump had indicated that the signing was a matter of days, the date has changed frequently, as Iran stated that the signings could be delayed a little. The issue of an electronic signature with the official signature at a later, but not too distant, time was also raised by Tehran.
Barak Ravid at Axios added that the US and Iran will electronically sign the memorandum of understanding that extends the ceasefire by 60 days, reopens the Strait of Hormuz and talks about resuming talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
And yet, Iran insists nothing will be signed on Sunday, with the Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, denying that the memorandum would be signed tomorrow, reporting that Iranian negotiators “have clearly stated that the agreement has not been finalized yet and will definitely not be signed on Sunday.”
“Trump’s strange insistence on signing the deal on Sunday is a test for the negotiating team, as it also coincides with Trump’s birthday, he turns 80. Some observers believe he is trying to symbolically seize this opportunity and turn it into a self-promotional event,” Fars reported.
In today’s tweet, the US president initially attacked the deal that Barack Obama signed a decade ago. He also stressed that no cash will change hands — we will never see billions in “hot money” flowing to Tehran again, he wrote. After the signing, the Strait of Hormuz will be open to all, Trump wrote, although there was no mention of taxes or tariffs of any kind.