Trump Blasts Iran Over Leaked Deal Terms as Hormuz Diplomacy Unravels

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By TRH World Desk

Tehran’s own media contradicts its negotiators. New Delhi summons Washington. The Strait of Hormuz stands at the epicentre of a three-way crisis.

New Delhi, June 12, 2026 — A cascade of overnight developments has pushed the fragile US-Iran ceasefire diplomacy to its most volatile juncture since the April pause in hostilities. US President Donald Trump took to Truth Social in a furious post accusing Tehran of bad faith. New Delhi has been forced into rare diplomatic protest over attacks on Indian-crewed commercial shipping in the Gulf of Oman.

The Deal That Wasn’t — Or Was It?

Trump’s post was unambiguous in its fury. He charged that deal terms Iran had “leaked out” bore “NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing,” calling Iranian negotiators “very dishonourable people” with whom “there is no such thing as dealing in good faith.” The outburst came after Iranian state and semi-official media outlets published what they claimed were the contours of an emerging agreement — triggering a transatlantic information war over what, if anything, has been settled.

Iran International, citing Iran’s Fars News Agency — which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards — reported that Tehran’s review and decision-making process had not yet been finalized, with Fars flatly denying reports that an announcement would be made on Sunday or that Geneva had been chosen as the venue for signing an agreement with the United States, calling those reports “completely false.”

Fars went further in an earlier dispatch. The agency stated that Trump’s Friday post “raised issues that contradict the provisions of the agreement’s text,” asserting there is “no such clause” on toll-free navigation through the strait, and that the draft agreement contains no reference to Iran dismantling or destroying its nuclear materials.

According to Fars, citing “informed sources,” the most critical element of the agreement is “the immediate payment of $12 billion of Iran’s frozen assets,” and Iran would refuse further negotiations unless that payment was made.

Fars, cited by The New Republic, quoted an “informed source close to Iran’s negotiation team” stating that “no text for a preliminary memorandum of understanding with the United States has been approved.” The Israeli government, meanwhile, told Channel 12 it was not aware a finalized deal had been reached.

The contradictions are revealing: each side is publicly disputing terms that the other claims are settled, suggesting either a fundamental breakdown in the drafting process, deliberate information management, or both. A senior Trump administration official clarified that the emerging deal is “performance-based,” and that Tehran receives none of its frozen assets until it fulfils its obligations. That position directly contradicts Tehran’s prerequisite that payment come first.

Drones at the Strait: India Caught in the Crossfire

Overnight developments on the water compounded the diplomatic rupture. Iran International reported that US President Trump on Friday condemned an Iranian drone attack against Indian ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday night, calling it “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE” and warning Tehran to “get their act together, and FAST.”

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reported, citing a senior US official, that the US military shot down two Iranian attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz early on June 12 after Iranian forces reportedly fired on a transiting vessel. Iranian state media outlet IRNA later acknowledged sounds near Sirik were linked to Iranian forces confronting an oil tanker attempting to pass through the waterway without coordinating with authorities.

The implications for India were immediate and severe. New Delhi summoned the US Charge d’Affaires, signalling a complex diplomatic reality: it is American naval enforcement, not solely Iranian drones, that has endangered Indian crews. India’s Ministry of External Affairs lodged “a strong protest” over continuing attacks by US naval forces on commercial vessels carrying Indian mariners, calling the use of lethal force against civilian shipping “unacceptable.”

According to official estimates, 622 Indian seafarers aboard 13 India-flagged vessels are currently operating in waters around the Strait of Hormuz, and nearly 18,000 Indian nationals work on foreign-flagged merchant ships across the wider Gulf region.

TRT World reported that three Indian seafarers have been killed after US Navy strikes on three commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman in just three days, as Washington enforces its naval campaign against Iran-linked shipping. Vessels being targeted include Iranian ships as well as shadow fleet tankers — older vessels without Western insurance used to transport sanctioned oil — sailing under flags of various nations to obscure their ownership and cargo.

Decoding the Chaos

What emerges is a three-layer crisis. First, US-Iran negotiations are mired in a competing narratives war, where both sides appear to be managing domestic audiences through selective leaks — a tactic that deepens mutual distrust.

Second, the Strait of Hormuz has become a kinetic theatre, where Iranian drone provocations and US enforcement strikes are occurring simultaneously with ceasefire diplomacy, making any agreement structurally fragile.

Third, India — a non-belligerent with massive economic and humanitarian stakes — has been drawn into the conflict involuntarily, creating a new pressure point on Washington that could complicate American coalition management in the region.

Tehran’s own official outlets are, in effect, publicly undercutting its negotiating team, while Trump’s Truth Social posts are shaping the terms of engagement before any text is signed. At the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, commerce and conflict are now indistinguishable.