Mike Baker

In a post on Truth Social Thursday afternoon, Trump said he had canceled planned strikes against Iran after receiving indications that the country's leadership had approved the framework of a new agreement.

According to the president, the proposed deal would extend the current ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, and launch a new 60-day negotiating process focused on Iran's nuclear program.

Trump went even further, claiming that the final points of the agreement had been approved, quote, in both concept and great detail by a long list of regional actors, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt.

That is a long list of actors.

But of course, the only actor that really matters is Iran.

Now, if this is all true, it would represent the most significant diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict began.

But there is one important problem.

As of this recording, Iran has not publicly confirmed Trump's claims.

And that's a significant detail because, as mentioned,

we've been here before.

Over the past several months, the White House has repeatedly suggested that a deal was close only to watch negotiations stall or collapse at the last minute.

In other words, while Trump is describing an agreement that appears all but complete, the Iranian regime has yet to publicly acknowledge that such a deal exists.

That said, there are signs that something meaningful may be happening behind the scenes.

According to Axios, Qatari mediators spent much of Wednesday in Tehran attempting to bridge the gaps between Washington and the regime.

Sources familiar with those talks say progress was made on several key issues that had previously blocked an agreement.

However, we have heard, again, optimistic comments in the past.

Those issues reportedly included the release of frozen Iranian assets, uh-oh, arrangements for reopening the street of Hormuz during a ceasefire period, and the framework for future negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

According to Axios, Iranian officials privately informed several countries that the talks had produced an agreement in principle.

However, the proposal still required approval from Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei, who still hasn't been seen in public, before it could move forward.

That caveat may prove important, of course.