Trump Rushes to Sign Peace with Iran Before His 80th Birthday, But Tehran Has No Intention of Giving Such a Gift

Donald Trump. Photo: Win McNamee / Getty Images

Today, June 14, 2026, the owner of the White House turns exactly 80 years old. As reported by The Insider, Donald Trump publicly stated that a historic agreement between Washington and Tehran could be finalized on this very day.

The American leader has already called the upcoming pact the complete opposite of Barack Obama's nuclear deal. According to Trump, the new agreement will permanently deprive Iran of the ability to acquire nuclear weapons by any means, and after the conflict is resolved, the US will be able to export and destroy stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, which the president poetically christened "nuclear dust."

Money Upfront

However, Washington's celebratory mood quickly encountered a restrained reality. Bloomberg, citing Iranian sources, notes that Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not yet approved the text of the memorandum, and the government continues to carefully study the draft. The document indeed provides for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping, an extension of the ceasefire for approximately two more months, and the continuation of negotiations. But the devil traditionally hides in the financial details.

Tehran demands the immediate unfreezing of its foreign assets. Reuters clarifies that one of the working options for the document provides for the release of a colossal sum — 25 billion dollars.

American diplomacy, however, insisted until the last on a phased approach, whereby economic concessions would be granted only after Iran fulfilled specific conditions for destroying its uranium stockpiles. The Iranian side has not yet given final consent to such concessions, continuing a complex political bargaining.

The Lebanese Knot and the Israeli Factor

The negotiation process is maximally complicated by the situation in neighboring Lebanon, which makes it impossible to consider Iran-US relations in a vacuum. Tehran insists that any long-term agreement must extend not only to direct US-Iranian contradictions but also to the Lebanese crisis.

This categorically does not satisfy Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to cease hostilities until the Hezbollah group is fully disarmed. Tensions have not subsided: just the day before, Israeli aviation launched another strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut in response to drone launches.

This exchange of blows led to further casualties and further entangled the diplomatic knot. Despite all this, Qatari mediators, who arrived in Tehran, continue shuttle diplomacy between the parties, trying to find points of contact.

The Internal Price of an External Victory

For Donald Trump, this agreement is not just a matter of international security or personal ambitions on his jubilee. Very pragmatic domestic interests of the United States are at stake. The partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz caused a noticeable jump in global oil prices. For the American economy, this means rising inflation just before the autumn midterm congressional elections, where every cent on the gas station ticker easily converts into lost voter ballots. Trump vitally needs to lower fuel prices by unblocking the strait.

But here too, the president found himself caught between two fires. An influential part of his own Republican Party, strongly represented by Senator Lindsey Graham, is categorically against transferring tens of billions of dollars to Tehran. They demand a continuation of the strategy of maximum pressure, regardless of the economic costs.

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