Many false starts and missed calls later - 39 to be precise - it seems Donald Trump was 40th time lucky. It happened to be his 80th birthday on Sunday when the ultimate gift arrived: a deal with Iran to end the war.
Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the news, but only on Monday local time. Tehran didn't want to play the birthday game. The two sides will sign a 14-point MoU on Friday, followed by a 60-day ceasefire during which they will negotiate a range of tough issues, including Iran's nuclear programme.