After months of war, threats to seize oil resources and repeated warnings of further escalation, US President Donald Trump is now projecting confidence that a deal with Iran is within reach.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, he declared that the US had "just made a great settlement of the war with Iran" and said only final paperwork remained before an agreement could be signed.
"We're going to be subject to finalisation of documents. It should get done over the next few days," Trump told reporters.
Fresh hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough emerged just hours after Trump pulled back from planned military action, saying that talks with Tehran had advanced further and received approval at the highest levels of Iran's leadership.
Trump said a formal signing ceremony could take place in Europe as early as this weekend.
"There will probably be a signing, maybe in Europe," he said, adding that the process should move forward "pretty quickly".
The US President said he would not attend the event himself, but Vice President JD Vance would represent the US. He also linked the agreement to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important energy shipping routes.
"The Strait of Hormuz will open as soon as we have it signed," he said. The waterway has been at the centre of tensions throughout the conflict and any reopening would likely ease pressure on global energy markets.
Iran has indicated that a final agreement with the US has not yet been reached, despite growing speculation of a breakthrough. Speaking on state television, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei dismissed the claims.
"Iran has not yet reached a final conclusion regarding an agreement," he said.
Baghaei said much of the proposed text had already been agreed, but accused Washington of making "excessive demands" and introducing "new requests" during the negotiations.
He said Iran would not "give way under pressure" or "depart from its red lines".
A core element of the proposed agreement, according to Trump, is a commitment by Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons.
"We have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, which was the whole purpose of what we had to go through to get this. So, it's a very big thing," he said.
When asked whether Iran had formally committed to abandoning any pursuit of nuclear weapons, Trump responded: "They will not have a nuclear weapon. They have agreed to that."
He also said Iran would not purchase or develop a nuclear weapon under the future agreement.
For years, Iranian officials have denied allegations that Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapon and have maintained that the country's nuclear programme is peaceful.
Trump also claimed that the proposed agreement had secured support from Iran's top leadership. Asked whether Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had agreed to the deal, Trump said: "I understand the answer is yes."
The US President said he had spoken with leaders across the region, including Gulf allies and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and claimed that "the whole Middle East is very happy".
Trump argued that the situation differs from previous rounds of negotiations because Iran is now far more eager to reach an agreement. When asked why he believed a deal was closer than before, Trump replied: "Because they've taken a pounding."
"They've taken a pounding like very few people could take. And they want to make a deal a lot more than I do."
He also said Iran's "level of enthusiasm" for an agreement had changed significantly in recent weeks.
Earlier in the day, the US President claimed that negotiators had reached broad agreement on both the framework and details of a deal.
"Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others," he wrote on Truth Socal.
