President Donald Trump vowed to release the deal with Iran “within the next few days,” and even read the entire document out loud on camera.
Timing: The U.S. did not release the document because officials needed to “order this in the right way,” Vice President J.D. Vance said. “There are sensitivities in the Arab and Islamic world, and we are trying to respond to them.”
Uncertainty is increasing tensions both domestically and internationally. An Israeli request to see the documents was rejected by the US, an Israeli official told CNN. But President Trump has promised to send the agreement to Congress for review.
Details: Officials have also spoken of a possible $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran, but it remains unclear who will pay for it and when. President Trump denied the fund plan.
Qatar said mediators were also discussing a non-aggression pact with Iran, non-state armed groups and nuclear issues.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told CNN he had seen the agreement and called it a “game changer.” Secretary Carney said he was calling for a “60-day ceasefire,” specifying “a set of conditions and what would happen if they were met.”
U.S. officials have downplayed the significance of specific language in the agreement. They explained that the document was incredibly vague and aimed primarily at creating a more favorable environment for future highly technical face-to-face talks. The document is also intended to allow Iran to sell itself politically to a domestic audience, officials said.
They also said the deal did not reflect back-channel promises Iran made to the United States, and officials argued that signing the deal would give Iran more confidence.
Background: President Trump’s national security team has been meeting almost daily to discuss the evolving end-of-war deal, and many feared that the Iranian government would not abide by its end of the deal, administration officials directly involved in the negotiations said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were “the most pessimistic” about whether Iran would honor its promise of substantial concessions on its nuclear program, the official said.
Officials said nearly all senior officials were reluctant, including Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. In the end, a deal was reached led by President Trump, and “we want to end this issue,” a government official directly involved in the talks told CNN.
CNN’s Christopher Lamb, Morgan Rimmer, Max Saltman, Morgan Leason, Tal Shalev and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
