US, Iran say deal closer than ever, as Pakistan says final text ‘agreed’

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkPakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is seen in Beijing, China [Tingshu Wang/Getty]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said a “final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached” between the US and Iran.Sharif made the statement in a post on X, after both US and Iranian officials warned against trusting reports speculating on the details of a new agreement.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US-Iran war to pull global economy to post-COVID low: World Banklist 2 of 3Trump says US and Iran have reached a ‘great settlement’list 3 of 3One injured as Israel hits southern Lebanon with air raids, artilleryend of list“Pakistan is now working closely with both sides to finalize the next steps,” Sharif wrote on X. “Peace has never been this close as it is now.”Sharif posted shortly after Iranian ⁠Foreign ⁠Minister Abbas Araghchi said a deal had “never been closer”. He added the “media should refrain from entering speculation about its content”.The message was one of the clearest yet from Iran, indicating an agreement could be imminent. Trump reposted Araghchi’s statement on his Truth Social account.Shortly before that, the US president had taken aim at reports detailing supposed terms of the agreement, which have not been publicly released.He appeared to be responding to an IRNA report that outlined seven alleged main points of the deal. The report said no new concessions had been reached on Iran’s nuclear programme and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the deal would see the immediate unfreezing of some Iranian assets. A US official pushed back on the characterisation, saying the deal being discussed would see the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme, the destruction of nuclear material and the Strait of Hormuz re-opened.US Vice President JD Vance, in a post on X, also denied that any Iranian assets would immediately be released.“The deal is structured to ensure that the US and its allies concerns are prioritized, and that if the Islamic Republic of Iran meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region,” Vance wrote.“This deal has the potential to remake the region and lead to lasting peace.”The latest diplomatic flurry comes after the US and Iran traded two days of strikes this week, threatening to end a pause in fighting that has seen a handful of flare-ups since April 8.Trump and his allies have repeatedly alternated between threatening Iran and indicating that a breakthrough on a more lasting ceasefire agreement could be near.On Thursday, Trump threatened to seize Iran’s Kharg island, the hub of its oil exports. Hours later, he said he had called off a third wave of US attacks in anticipation of a possible agreement.Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Almigdad Alruhaid said that it is widely expected that the memorandum of understanding currently being discussed will freeze the battlefield, but it is likely to only be a launch point for more substantive negotiations on key issues. “For them to finalise this draft, this memorandum of understanding, it must be circled in a long list of leadership here, starting from the army headquarters and IRGC, the politicians in the parliament, and after that to the Supreme Leader,” Alruhaid said.“So that is a long list of leadership here to finalise the deal to reach a consensus agreement within the country,” he said.Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said US officials have said their top demands have not changed as part of the pending deal.“What the White House is promising is that this agreement will include performance-based components. In other words, Iran’s nuclear programme must be dismantled, the enriched uranium must be disposed of or eliminated, the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened, and there can be no support for regional proxies,” she said.“Only then, according to a White House official, will there be a release of Iran’s frozen assets,” she said.Speaking to Axios news on Friday, Trump said that he still believed the new deal could be signed over the weekend.He added that Iran had privately “apologised for putting out false information”, according to the report, which noted it was unclear how the message was conveyed.