Trump gathers Cabinet as Iran talks reach critical stage

President Donald Trump is set to meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a time when talks of ending the war with Iran have seemingly reached a tipping point. Just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement, tensions flared as the U.S. military conducted "defensive strikes" near the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the potential escalation, reports suggest an agreement could still be on the cards, and the meeting could play a role in the negotiations.

Earlier, Trump had announced a meeting of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat, but on Tuesday, he shifted the venue to the White House instead due to a poor weather forecast. As the President prepares to huddle with his top aides, he has projected both confidence and confusion regarding the deal over the past week. As details of his deal came out, critics argued that the concessions would embolden Iran, while Trump claimed it was the exact opposite of the one former President Barack Obama had negotiated.

On Saturday, following a call with 10 Arab leaders, Trump announced on Truth Social that a deal had been "largely negotiated" and would be "announced shortly," only to go back on his words less than 24 hours later, claiming the deal was not "even fully negotiated yet." Talks were further complicated after U.S. forces carried out "defensive" strikes on missile launch sites and mine-laying boats in southern Iran on Monday, a move that Iran claimed was a sign of "bad faith and unreliability," CNBC reported. 

However, reports suggested that Trump's team worked relentlessly on the deal over the Memorial Day weekend and on Monday morning, Trump posted again without detailing any progress on the talks, claiming that the details of the deal could be "finalized" by Friday. Hours later, he claimed that the talks were "proceeding nicely," declaring that all the 10 Arab nations participating in the talks are now mandated to join the Abraham Accords. He further claimed Obama's deal was a "direct and open path to a Nuclear Weapon," despite the IAEA suggesting otherwise, and that his deal would be much better. "The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal," he wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday accused the U.S. of  "grave violation" of the fragile ceasefire after the U.S. military operation that targeted Iranian forces. Despite the aggression, CBS reported that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official had stated that a resumption of the war was unlikely, but Tehran stood against any further attacks from the U.S. "The possibility of war is low because of the enemy's weakness; the armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines," said Mohammad Akbarzadeh, the deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, as quoted by the Tasnim news agency.