President Donald Trump has vowed to publicly release the text of the agreement with Iran “in a couple of days†and even floated reciting the entire document in front of cameras.
The timing: The US has not released the text because officials needed to “sequence this in the right way,†Vice President JD Vance said. “There are sensitivities that exist in the Arab and Muslim world that we're trying to be responsive to.â€
The uncertainty has raised tensions domestically and internationally. Israel's request to see the text was rejected by the US, an Israeli source told CNN. But Trump has committed to sending the text of the agreement to Congress for review.
The details: Multiple officials have also spoken about a potential $300 billion fund for the reconstruction of Iran, but who would pay this — and when — remains unclear. Trump has denied the fund plan.
Mediators are also discussing nonaggression pacts, non-state armed groups and nuclear issues with Iran, according to Qatar.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told CNN he'd seen the agreement, describing it as a “game changer.†Carney said it calls for “a cease fire for that 60-day period,†spelling out “a series of conditions and what will happen when they are fulfilled.â€
US officials are downplaying the significance of the specific language in the agreement. They described the text as incredibly vague, mainly intended to create a more favorable environment for the highly technical, in-person talks to come. The text is also aimed at providing Iran the ability to sell it politically to their internal audience, the officials said.
They also said the agreement doesn't reflect back-channel commitments Iran has made to the US, which the officials argued gave them more confidence in signing on to the arrangement.
In the background: Trump's national security team met almost daily to discuss the evolving agreement to end the war, with many concerned that Tehran would not hold up its end of the bargain, administration officials directly involved in the negotiations said.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were among the “most pessimistic†about whether the Iranians would honor their commitments to make substantive concessions on their nuclear program, an official said.
Nearly every senior official, including Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, raised reservations, officials said. They ultimately reached Trump-driven consensus: “We want to get this thing over with,†an administration official directly involved in the talks told CNN.
CNN's Christopher Lamb, Morgan Rimmer, Max Saltman, Morgan Leason, Tal Shalev and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
