THE United States and Iran have reached a preliminary memorandum of understanding (MOU) to extend the ceasefire between the two countries for 60 days and start negotiations for permanently ending the war, according to officials.
The US sources told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the framework still needs President Donald Trump’s final approval. If finalised, the agreement would be a major breakthrough after weeks of stalled diplomacy.
But details of the tentative deal remain obscure. It is also unclear whether the 60-day extension represents a deadline for the negotiations. The ongoing truce is already open-ended.
The MOU would come after sporadic skirmishes between the US and Iran in the Gulf that threatened to unravel the truce. The two sides traded limited attacks earlier on Thursday.
Axios first reported the preliminary deal earlier on Thursday. The White House confirmed the report to Al Jazeera.
According to Axios, the deal stipulates that vessel traffic would be “unrestricted” in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Tehran has been claiming sovereignty over the strategic waterway, saying that the strait must be managed jointly by Iran and Oman because it goes through the two countries’ territorial waters.
But the US has rejected any form of Iranian control, including a tolling system, in the Hormuz Strait.
Earlier on Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threatened Oman — a close ally of Washington — with sanctions if it facilitates the imposition of fees on ships going through the strait.
Bessent later declined to confirm details of the reported deal, and he suggested that there can be no agreement that does not meet Trump’s red lines.
“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president, so it is all going to be the president’s decision,” Bessent told reporters.
He added that Trump has made his three conditions for Iran clear: re-opening Hormuz, giving up the stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and ending the nuclear programme.
Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency, cited a source close to the negotiations as denying claims of US officials of an imminent agreement.
“If the text is indeed finalised, Iran will announce the matter to the Pakistani mediator and to the people. And until then, any narrative from Western sources about the finalisation of the matter is not valid,” it said.
In addition to an agreement about the waterway, the reported memorandum also requires that Iran commit to not pursuing a nuclear weapon.
But Tehran has already made that commitment publicly numerous times. Slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the US and Israel on the first day of the war, February 28, had issued a religious decree against weapons of mass destruction.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that his country is “not looking for nuclear weapons”.
“We do not engage in diplomacy with humiliation,” he was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency.
While the reported deal could resolve the Hormuz issue, other sticking points, including the continuation of US sanctions and the future of Iran’s uranium stockpile, would need to be addressed in further talks.
Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium domestically, which is not prohibited under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). But Trump has stressed that the country’s entire nuclear programme must be dismantled.
The US is also seeking limits on Iran’s missile and drone production, but Tehran has ruled out negotiations over its defence policies.
Another issue is the raging war in Lebanon, where Israel has intensified its attacks, killing dozens of people over the past weeks and issuing forced displacement orders for two of the largest cities in the south of the country.
The Iran-allied group Hezbollah has also stepped up its drone launches against invading Israeli forces.
Israel bombed Beirut on Thursday for the first time in three weeks — the second attack on the Lebanese capital since the “ceasefire” reached in April.