Trump expects truce extension deal with Iran within a week

Donald Trump said Monday he expects the United States to reach a memorandum of understanding with Iran on ending the war within the next week, even as Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon fueled reports of a breakdown in negotiations and left the outlook deeply uncertain.

Speaking by phone to ABC News, Trump said he believed a deal would come together soon when asked about the timing of an MOU. "I think within the next week you'll be talking about it," he said. However, he added that he still had "a few more things to work out," acknowledging that an agreement had not yet been reached.

The MOU under discussion between Washington and Tehran is reported to include a 60-day extension of the truce as well as full passage rights for civilian vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

Reaching a deal has proved difficult, however, as Trump has set firm red lines — including a ban on Iranian nuclear weapons and the removal of highly enriched uranium from Iran under US-led oversight.

Trump told ABC that "today there was a little problem, but I turned it around very quickly, as you probably saw." The "little problem" appeared to refer to Iranian reports that Tehran would suspend negotiations with Washington after concluding that Israel's strikes on Lebanon violated the truce agreement.

In response, Trump said he reached out separately to both Israeli and Hezbollah officials to halt the fighting. "I called Hezbollah and said, 'Don't shoot,' and I called Bibi — Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister — and said, 'Don't shoot.' And they both stopped," he said.

In a separate interview with NBC News, Trump maintained an optimistic tone, saying Iran had not notified the US of any suspension of talks and that communications were moving "at a rapid pace." He also signaled caution about military escalation, saying that a pause in talks "doesn't mean we go and start dropping bombs all over the place."

Still, the Lebanon front has emerged as a serious obstacle to the negotiations, and the outlook remains murky. Netanyahu has also shown a markedly different stance from Trump on the Israeli strikes.

In a statement from his office Tuesday, Netanyahu said he had told Trump that evening that if Hezbollah did not stop attacking Israeli cities and civilians, Israel would strike terrorist targets in Beirut.

"Our position on this has not changed," Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli forces would proceed with operations in southern Lebanon as planned. While Trump effectively declared a halt to hostilities, Netanyahu left the door open to further strikes.

Iran had already been pushing back sharply against Israel's intensified offensive against Hezbollah, calling it a violation of the truce. Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported Tuesday that the exchange of messages with the US for truce negotiations had been suspended.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned on X, formerly Twitter, that "the Strait of Hormuz is under Iranian control," adding that Iran would "not tolerate the continuation of the maritime blockade, nor the escalation of tensions in Lebanon."

By Jung Mok-hee