The US and Iran have reached a tentative deal to extend a ceasefire by 60 days and launch further talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, a person with knowledge of the matter said, raising hopes the three-month conflict could be nearing a resolution.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, confirmed an earlier report from Axios. President Donald Trump has yet to agree to the terms. Both countries have previously hailed progress, with Trump repeatedly indicating the US was close to securing an agreement — only for the stalemate to drag on.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters Thursday afternoon that the US and Iran are “going back and forth on a couple of language points,” including over issues relating to Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. He said Iran appears to be negotiating in good faith, adding that progress is being made.
“I can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there, but right now I feel pretty good about it,” he said.
“We’ve already decimated their conventional military and we’re in a position where we can substantially set back their nuclear program,” the vice president added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier Thursday would only say “the teams have been going back and forth” when pressed if an interim deal has been clinched. He insisted Trump’s three “red lines” — reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran turning over highly enriched uranium and ending its nuclear program — remain necessary for any pact.
“If there can be no deal without those, why would there be a deal without those?” he said at a White House briefing. “Everything depends on what the president wants to do and President Trump is not going to make a bad deal for the American people, for the US.”
The US and Iran have had a fragile truce in place since early April, which has been interrupted by isolated military strikes. Axios reported that Trump asked for “a couple of days” to think about the agreement.
Fada-Hossein Maleki, an Iranian lawmaker and member of the country’s parliamentary commission for national security, said negotiations between the US and Iran have shown “significant progress,” according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency.
The US still has to decide on a number of Iran’s conditions, the ISNA quoted Maleki as saying, without giving details.
American crude dropped 0.4% to about $88.60 a barrel early Friday following reports about the deal, and Asian equities were poised to advance.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding would state that shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz would be “unrestricted,” Axios reported. Iran would have to remove all mines from the strait within 30 days, according to the report.
Bessent also said there were no plans for Oman to levy tolls on shipments through the key waterway, one day after Trump said he would “blow them up” if the long-term ally started to charge for transit.
The secretary said he had spoken to the Omani ambassador earlier Thursday and received assurances “there were no plans for tolling the strait.”
The news followed overnight clashes between the US and Iran, with both sides condemning the other for violating the truce.
US forces shot down four Iranian drones fired at a commercial ship and hit a launch unit near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a US official, who said the strikes were defensive and the ceasefire remains intact. Iran targeted the US base from which the assault came, state-run Press TV reported in a post on X.
The US and Kuwait said the Gulf state had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Tehran toward the country.
The effective closure of the Hormuz Strait since the start of the war in late February has strangled about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, leading to a surge in prices and boosting inflation.
The US Treasury Department said it took action against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, accusing it of launching a new attempt “to monetize its campaign of state-sponsored terror by extorting vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has expanded its claimed jurisdiction and set out new rules for vessels seeking to transit the waterway. That involves seafarers dealing with the new Iranian agency and sometimes getting payment requests of as much as $2 million for safe passage.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said 26 commercial ships and oil tankers have transited the waterway in the past 24 hours after obtaining permission, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Thursday, citing an IRGC statement. Vessels attempting unauthorized entry into the Persian Gulf were stopped by Iran’s naval forces, it said.
Just two ships were observed transiting into the Persian Gulf, while a Chinese fuel tanker apparently paused midway on its voyage out, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
The US president has instituted his own blockade of Iranian ports and called for allies to assist with the effort to open the strait so that commercial vessels can resume safe passage. He’s also threatened to resume major airstrikes against Iran — all to little avail.
Trump finds himself caught between Iranian demands for an end to attacks as well as financial relief, and pressure from hawks to finish the job — or at least not to sign a bad deal.
Adding to the challenge are his own comments over the years lambasting his predecessors for signing or considering deals similar to the one that has the best chance of success.
As well as the issue of Iran’s nuclear program — Trump’s oft-stated reason for starting the war — the sides need to agree on what portion of Iran’s $24 billion of financial assets will be unfrozen and how quickly. On Thursday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran wants all of its assets that are blocked by the US to be released.
Here’s more on the Iran war:
- Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz dwindled to only a few mostly Iran-linked vessels crossing on Wednesday, underscoring the stop-start nature of traffic through the world’s most vital energy chokepoint.
- When Tehran oil infrastructure caught fire in March following Israeli strikes, the blaze produced toxic fumes detectable across an area the size of Italy, according to fresh research.
- Israel stepped up attacks on Lebanon, killing at least 14 people and striking Beirut. That potentially complicates US-Iran talks on an interim peace deal.
