Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday that the United States and Iran have agreed to a framework for a peace deal that would end the months-long conflict in the Middle East, with a final text of the deal reached.

Pakistan is now preparing for an electronic signing expected within the next 24 hours, followed by technical-level talks next week, Sharif added.

Some two hours later, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei denied that the signing would take place on Sunday, according to Iranian state media.

He added that the possibility of signing the so-called Islamabad memorandum in the coming days could not be ruled out, but caution was needed regarding any comment on the signing date due to the “hesitation of the other side,” referring to the US.

Sharif’s announcement came two days after US President Donald Trump called off a third night of strikes on Iran, claiming an agreement to end the war had been reached and would be signed shortly.

The US had struck Iran for two consecutive days prior, in what it called “self-defense strikes” targeting “military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran.”

In his statement calling off Thursday night’s strikes, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, “Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as president of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening.”

“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and others,” he said.

But he........

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