President Trump on Monday refused to guarantee his presence at the signing ceremony for the agreement ending the Iran war, set for later this week in Geneva. Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Trump told reporters his attendance “depends” on scheduling.
“JD’s coming in for it, he was originally going to do it,” Trump said, referring to Vice President Vance. “I’ll probably be gone by then. We’re having dinner in a day and a half, right? We’re going to be staying quite late. So, I may be involved, I may not, but JD was coming in for that, specifically.”
The president described the accord as a “very powerful document,” claiming it surpasses the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated by the Obama administration. No specifics of the new agreement have been released, though the U.S. and Iran have agreed on a 60-day timeline to negotiate the future of Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Hopefully it’s going to be a good relationship and we’re going to get along,” Trump said. “And if we don’t, we go back to where we started. But I don’t think that’s going to be necessary. The Iran deal that we made is going to bring a lot of success to the world because the oil was really clogged up there for a while.”
Trump indicated the agreement’s details would be released “probably pretty soon, I would say sometime after Friday.” However, senior U.S. officials previously told The Hill the terms would be made public within 24 to 48 hours. The president and vice president electronically signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday, along with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf. Vance and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, are expected to attend the Geneva ceremony.
Vance earlier told Fox News’s Trey Yingst that “it’s possible the president himself could be there,” adding, “I think we’re still figuring out the logistics of who’s going to attend that signing ceremony.”
The preliminary agreement will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20 percent of global oil exports. Its closure had driven oil and fuel prices sharply higher worldwide. The deal also unfreezes Iranian assets, though the Islamic regime has yet to receive any of those funds.
Notably, the agreement does not require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, a U.S. official previously told The Hill. Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has insisted Israel is not “subject to the United States,” as Israeli forces continue operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The president’s ambiguous stance on attending the signing underscores ongoing tensions within his administration and with allies over the deal’s terms and transparency. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has demanded a full briefing on the agreement, citing its murky details.
