Iran-US Peace Deal Delayed Again: Trump Urges Israel to Stand Down as Signing Timeline Slips

Sunday turned out to be not the tidy birthday-deal moment Donald Trump had scripted, but it was not without drama. The US president had declared on Truth Social on Saturday that the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tehran would be signed on Sunday, his 80th birthday, and that the Strait of Hormuz would open "immediately" after. Iran's Foreign Ministry had already punctured that balloon, saying the signing would not happen today though it could occur "in the coming days," blaming what it pointedly called "the hesitancy of the other side."

Sunday's first disruption came from Israel. The IDF struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut in the early hours, framing it as retaliation for a Hezbollah drone attack on Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon overnight. Trump, in a notably sharp Truth Social post, broke from his usual habit of shielding Israel from criticism. "This morning's attack on Beirut should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran," Trump wrote. "Israel has the right to defend itself against threats, but the attack it was responding to was very small and meaningless, nobody was hurt, injured, or killed, and should not disrupt this important process." He then issued an unambiguous instruction: "We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down. There should be no more attacks by Israel anywhere in Lebanon, but there should also be no more attacks by any other party, including Hezbollah, against Israel."

That is a meaningful shift. Trump publicly rebuking Israel for a strike, even gently, is not something his administration does routinely, and the timing left little doubt that Netanyahu's military had created an unwelcome complication on a day Washington wanted to project momentum.

Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf wrote on X that the Dahiyeh strike proved that America "either lacks the will or the ability" to fulfil its commitments. The deputy inspector of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command added that the Beirut attack would "not go unanswered," a statement that simultaneously pressures Washington and gives Tehran's hardliners something to cheer about domestically, where opposition to any deal with the US has been loud and organised.

On the diplomatic track, Qatari negotiators flew into Tehran on Sunday morning, dispatched to push the memorandum across the finish line. The MOU, as understood, would extend the ceasefire, lift the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and open approximately 60 days of talks to resolve harder questions including Iran's nuclear programme and frozen assets. The Qataris had been working the phones all of Saturday as well, with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar briefing Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal on the state of play.

Inside Iran, the mood was contradictory in the way that only Tehran can manage. The Iranian rial strengthened , and the Tehran Stock Exchange hit a new all-time high on Sunday, the markets evidently betting that a deal is close enough to price in. Ordinary Iranians, ground down by months of war, inflation, and supply shocks, are desperate for relief. But the country's hardline establishment is simultaneously fighting the deal's terms behind closed doors, aware that signing locks in realities they find uncomfortable.

Four Iranian banks also suffered what the Bank Coordination Council described as a "limited cyberattack," disrupting operations on a day the country was already on edge. No one claimed responsibility.