I feel like I’m in a I know you are but what am I 6 year old childish post.
You said ‘that he expected multiple deals to close possibly as soon as Dec 31 2023.”
What he actually said was “We are working hard to close additional commercial agreements by year end, but since, these are long deliberate processes, we can't guarantee that we will do so.”
I cannot say it any clearer than how he said it, how you interpret it is up to you. I cannot guarantee that I be in Denver for 5 days but I'm working on it. You would interpret that as but X you expected to be there for 5 days.