U.S. media reports that the U.S. and Iran have reached a ceasefire agreement "hope is fading"

According to a report by the U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal on June 6, mediators are feeling pessimistic that Iran has “yielded” before the deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump and will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with the hopes for a U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement “fading.” The report said some U.S. officials stated that before Trump’s East Coast U.S. time deadline of 8:00 p.m. on the 7th arrives, the gap between the U.S. and Iran’s positions is “too large to close.” At the same time, citing officials from Arab countries familiar with the situation, it said Iranian officials have told mediators that even if negotiations with the United States make progress, they expect the United States to continue striking Iran, and Israel will also continue carrying out airstrikes on Iran to “remove” senior Iranian officials.

The report, citing some U.S. officials, said Trump is “less optimistic” about a U.S.-Iran deal in private and expects to issue the final order to strike Iran on the evening of the 7th in U.S. Eastern time, but Trump’s thinking could change at any time depending on how the situation evolves. Trump wants to end the war, and he realizes that the American public has limited patience for further military action.

The report said Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan are conveying U.S. messages to Iran through diplomatic channels and their intelligence agencies. “One complicating factor is that the intermediaries in these countries overlap with the people Iran is communicating with. Another complicating factor is that the deaths of many senior Iranian officials and attacks on Iran’s government communications infrastructure make it difficult for the United States to determine who on the Iranian side to negotiate with and how to contact them.”

The report also cited U.S. and Middle East officials as saying that any decision on negotiations is made by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and by Ahmad Wahidi, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Egypt’s and Turkey’s intelligence chiefs and Pakistan’s Army chief of staff are focusing their mediation efforts on Wahidi and other senior intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guards. (Xinhua)