Trump Cancels Iran Strikes, Claims Deal Is Done. Iran Says No Final Agreement Exists.

Since U.S. strikes on Iranian military infrastructure began earlier this week, the conflict has cycled through several near-escalation moments. Thursday brought the sharpest whipsaw yet.

Trump's Morning Threat, Reversed by Evening

Early Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that U.S. forces would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT" and floated seizing Kharg Island, the Gulf terminal that handles the overwhelming majority of Iran's oil exports. Hours later, he reversed course entirely.

"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," Trump wrote on Truth Social, as reported by Breitbart News and confirmed by CBS News.

Trump listed more than a dozen parties he said had approved the deal's framework: the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others. He said the naval blockade would remain in place until the agreement is signed, and that the signing location would likely be in Europe, possibly as soon as this weekend.

He also told Fox News, per CBS News, that he wasn't sure "America has the appetite" for the full escalation he had described earlier in the day, a notable hedge given what he'd been posting just hours before.

Tehran Pushes Back Hard

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei issued a public statement to Agence France-Presse: "So far, Iran has not reached a final conclusion on the agreement."

Fars News Agency, the semi-official outlet tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, went further. Quoting what it described as a "knowledgeable source close to the Iranian negotiating team," Fars stated that "no text of the initial memorandum of understanding with the United States has been approved," according to CBS News's live coverage.

South China Morning Post noted that Trump has made similar "breakthrough is imminent" claims multiple times in recent weeks, each time followed by continued fighting or diplomatic setbacks.

The gap between Trump's announcement and Tehran's denial is a direct, on-record contradiction between the two parties supposedly signing a deal.

What Negotiators Say Privately

Despite the public contradiction, two sources familiar with the diplomatic effort told CBS News that a letter of intent or memorandum of understanding is likely to be signed early next week. Axios reported that Qatari envoy Ali Al-Thawadi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi worked through Wednesday night in Tehran to close the remaining gaps.

Axios identified three unresolved sticking points as of Wednesday: the mechanism for releasing frozen Iranian assets, the specific arrangements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz during a proposed 60-day ceasefire, and the framework for nuclear negotiations during that window.

Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, identified by South China Morning Post as Tehran's chief negotiator, warned Thursday that "wrong strategies and impulsive decisions will reset the entire board for the worse, explode energy infrastructure and markets and create an endless quagmire."

That statement is the Iranian negotiating team applying public pressure, not walking away. It reads like leverage, not a breakdown.

Iran Threatens SpaceX and Musk's Regional Operations

Separate from the ceasefire talks, Iranian state media outlet Fars announced Thursday that all of Elon Musk's business operations in the Middle East, specifically including SpaceX's Starlink infrastructure and regional ground stations, would be treated as legitimate military targets, according to Breitbart News citing CNBC's reporting on the Fars Telegram post.

Fars alleged that Starlink has provided direct support to U.S. military drone operations and unmanned strike vessels targeting Iranian interests. An "informed source" quoted by Fars stated that "Iran asserts the United States has committed war crimes against it with the support of Musk-related companies."

The timing is notable. The threat came one day before SpaceX's scheduled IPO. Whether that timing was deliberate signaling or coincidence is not established by any source.

The IRGC has previously issued similar threat designations against Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google, none of which resulted in documented attacks on those companies' regional infrastructure.

A Potential War Crimes Complication

U.S. Central Command confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that it is investigating reports that Wednesday's strikes may have hit a water storage facility in southern Iran, leaving an estimated 20,000 civilians without fresh water according to Iranian claims. The New York Times reported it analyzed satellite imagery and video that suggested the same.

CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said only: "We're aware of the reports and are looking into them."

This is an allegation, not a finding. But if the investigation confirms a civilian water facility was struck, it would hand Iranian negotiators a significant piece of leverage and could complicate any final signing.

The Strongest Case for Skepticism

Critics of Trump's announcement have a legitimate point. The president declared a deal "approved by all parties" while noticeably omitting Iran from his listed signatories. Iran's own foreign ministry denied a final agreement exists within hours of Trump's post. South China Morning Post explicitly flagged that similar Trump announcements in recent weeks did not hold. The pattern of claim-then-denial is real, documented, and sourced.

Private diplomatic channels and public statements from adversaries rarely align during active negotiations. The CBS News sourcing of two independent diplomatic contacts pointing to an early-next-week signing suggests movement is happening even if the public posture on both sides is designed for domestic audiences.

The blockade stays up. The Strait of Hormuz stays closed. The open question as of June 11 is whether the letter of intent CBS News's sources anticipate for early next week actually materializes, and whether the water facility investigation changes the diplomatic math before it does.