Iran war updates: Trump says Iran ‘agreement has been largely negotiated’

For more on Trump’s optimistic social media post suggesting a peace deal with Iran is imminent, read this.

Read about Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon here.

And for more on the global outrage over Israel’s abuse of flotilla activists headed to Gaza, read this.

• Trump is split “50/50” between reaching a peace deal with Iran and restarting military strikes, he has said in an interview.
• Iran ⁠and Pakistan have submitted a revised ⁠proposal to the ⁠US to end the war.
• Pakistani army chief Munir has departed Tehran after a flurry of meetings, including two with Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi and President Pezeshkian.
• The positions of the US and Iran “have been coming closer” over the past week, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
• Several Middle East leaders held a phone call with Trump during the intensified efforts to broker a deal.
• Araghchi confirmed the contents of a note he sent to Hezbollah in which he promised that Iran “will never stop supporting” the armed group.
• An Israeli attack near a hospital in southern Lebanon has injured 25 healthcare workers.

What you are seeing in Iran is wartime patriotism, and that has been fuelled by the media narrative, which has been largely under the control of the state, by statements of officials and by security figures.

Still, every night, for example, thousands of people gather across squares in the capital and other major cities, showing solidarity with the state and the armed forces.

In the short term, the end of the war would bring celebrations. But in the long term, there are tremendous challenges. The main one is the economy, because nearly 40 years of sanctions have heavily damaged Iran’s industrial base.

The country was already struggling, and this war has made the situation worse. That is why Iranians are insisting on the return of frozen Iranian assets, which would amount to billions of dollars, and control of the Strait of Hormuz to generate revenue from that as well.

Alireza Enayati, Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has said in a post on X that conditions across the region are now in place for countries to “unite in rebuilding the region and work together in its construction with mutual assistance”.

In the same post, Enayati described Iran as a nation “resilient in times of hardship and [one that] endures in history”, adding that “Iran is a new opportunity for the region to move beyond the repetitive language of the past and think about the future”.

Earlier tonight, former CIA director Mike Pompeo criticised the Iran deal currently taking shape,  saying it resembles the earlier Obama-era agreement and taking aim at the negotiators who helped shape the deal.

Robert Malley, one of the key negotiators of the Obama-era deal, responded by saying that Trump’s strategy is not one he would have pursued, but added that he would support it if it ends an “unjustifiable war”.

Not quite the path Wendy, Ben or I would have taken. But if this deal brings an end to an unlawful, unjustifiable war, to the senseless loss of life and destruction, and to the cascading global economic fallout, I am quite sure we’d willingly accept it over the alternative.… https://t.co/4IuGpYBANH

— Robert Malley (@Rob_Malley) May 23, 2026

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, a prominent Iran analyst, has described a joint call between several Middle East leaders and Donald Trump as a “historic turning point” in the region’s security thinking, saying it reflected a unified push for an agreement to end the war.

In a post on X, Batmanghelidj said US presidents have previously pitted regional leaders against one another, often in ways that favoured Israel’s interests, but argued that dynamic is now shifting.

“Crucially, the terms of this initial deal have been defined through mediation and negotiation among the regional powers themselves,” he wrote. “This reflects a maturation in regional diplomacy that has been years in the making, but which faced its ultimate test in the wake of the Iran war.”

He added: “The question is whether this experience can be consolidated in a new postwar order for the Middle East. If so, the region’s brightest days are certainly ahead.”

Here in Iran, the main discussion about the US negotiations is the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

So, as we have seen just an hour ago, Donald Trump said the status of the strait would return to the pre-war situation, and the Iranian Fars news agency, which is close to the IRGC, is saying that this does not reflect what both parties have agreed on.

It added that Iran is going to keep its control over the Strait of Hormuz, at least for the period of the ceasefire, until the negotiations are concluded.

Iran says it will be the sole power, the only actor that is going to issue permits for ships, give clearances, check what they are carrying, their origins and destinations, and also regulate the number of ships.

What we see is that the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s biggest leverage point, and many people in Tehran view it as Iran’s nuclear bomb – its greatest deterrence – and so, they are not going to give that up easily.

It should be noted that this is from the Fars news agency. That does not mean it reflects the position of Iran, but it is still worth noting that this is likely to be the main sticking point.

The Scottish newspaper The National is reporting that Global Sumud Flotilla activist Hughie Stirling has arrived home.

NEW: Scottish Global Sumud Flotilla activist Hughie Stirling has arrived home at Inverness Airport

Stirling was one of more than 400 activists who was kidnapped by Israeli forces in international waters while trying to deliver aid to Gaza pic.twitter.com/eDaHroLtIx

— The National (@ScotNational) May 23, 2026

Iran’s Fars news agency, quoting the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), says Trump’s latest social media post is propaganda and that no commitment on Tehran’s nuclear programme has been made.

“It is worth mentioning that Trump had previously announced negotiations about Iran’s nuclear programme as one of the main and inseparable conditions of any agreement. However, no commitment has been made by Iran, and the nuclear issue has not been discussed at this stage,” Fars reported.

“It is noted that American officials have admitted in multiple messages to Iran that Trump’s tweets are mostly for promotional and media consumption purposes within the United States, and have advised not to pay attention to these statements.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has invoked the Roman emperor Marcus Julius Philippus to send a pointed message to Washington, noting that when Rome marched east against Persia, it was the emperor who was forced to make peace “on Sasanian terms”.

The remarks are characteristic of Baghaei, a Tehran University PhD, who has made a habit of reaching for history and literature to frame Iran’s standoffs with the US.

In a recent Al Jazeera opinion article, he cited the 12th-century Persian poet Farid al-Din Attar, and said that a civilisation that “plays fast and loose with its principles” is a dying one.

In the Roman mind, Rome was the undisputed center of the world. Yet the Iranians shattered that illusion; when Marcus Julius Philippus (Philip the Arab) marched east against Persia, the campaign did not result in Roman victory — it ended in a peace established on Sasanian terms:… pic.twitter.com/hLSqAUzb7p

— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) May 23, 2026

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held a phone call with Trump and other Middle East leaders, calling for a deal to end “the current tension” with Iran and to prevent “renewed escalation”.

The call included Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, among others, Egypt’s presidency said in a statement.

El-Sisi stressed the importance of seizing “the available diplomatic window” to reach a peaceful settlement, adding that Egypt “will spare no effort” to facilitate negotiations in coordination with its regional partners.

The US has delayed the delivery of hundreds of Tomahawk missiles to Japan indefinitely because of severe shortages caused by the war on Iran, according to a news report.

The Financial Times, citing “several people familiar with the discussions”, reported that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, about the delay in a call earlier in May.

“Despite repeated promises from top administration officials that they would prioritise Asia, the Pentagon is now giving precedence to the Middle East,” Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute, was quoted as saying.

“Given the lengthy timelines for munitions production, Asian allies and partners will continue to feel the impact of the Iran war long after it ends.”

Both sides right now are saying they’re very close to securing a peace agreement. Analytically, we have a clear suggestion there is real movement towards building a “framework” to reach a deal.

The current focus for Iran is to end the war on all fronts, including Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. They’re emphasising this idea as they propose sequencing matters such as lifting sanctions and the nuclear file – which is one of the biggest sticking points right now.

Iran is saying we have to “wait and see” for the next three to four days whether there will be a genuine breakthrough.

The overall picture is we are witnessing a very good shift from crisis management toward framework-building.

We know Vice President JD Vance wasn’t scheduled to be at the White House today – but his motorcade was spotted going into the White House.

The president has been talking to reporters. He told CBS News that Iran is getting a lot closer to what the US wants in terms of a peace agreement.

We’re starting to get some pushback from some of the more hardline Republican members of Congress. There are growing questions about exactly what the United States accomplished during the active fighting.

The New York Times reported the intelligence community says when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, Iran still has 30 of the 33 missile sites along that critical waterway.

Seventy percent of its mobile launchers are still intact, and they have about 70 percent of the missile stockpile they had before the US-Israel war launched.

South African activists detained after Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla say they were beaten and tortured in custody.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of 50 vessels, was seized in international waters about 400 kilometres (248.5 miles) off the coast as it attempted to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver aid.

Activists said Israeli forces held them for several days in Ketziot prison, where some reported electric shocks during interrogation.

“We were denied access to water for a while. Food they did give us, food that was not suitable for human consumption. We were denied access to toilets for many hours, and the minute we started protesting, we were shot at with rubber bullets,” activist Faizel Moosa told The Associated Press news agency.

The accounts add to growing reports of abuse, with other activists saying that Israeli security forces subjected them to sexual assault and rape.