U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vance told reporters.
He added: “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”
The emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering. The latest flare-up in fighting happened less than a day earlier, when Kuwait intercepted missiles fired from Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.
Proposal addresses Strait of Hormuz
The memorandum makes clear that Iran will not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran will have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
During the war, Iran has effectively closed the strait, which had been the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. Its closure has sent oil prices skyrocketing around the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted Thursday at a news briefing that the cost of oil could “come down very quickly” once a deal is finalized.
Iran has said it’s letting some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war — but the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships. It set up a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.
Under the tentative agreement, the U.S. would gradually lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.
Yet even as word of the potential deal emerged, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military’s oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic.
Details of the tentative pact were first reported by the news outlet Axios.
Nuclear issue remains unresolved
Among the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day ceasefire is what will happen to Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the first official said. The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Vance suggested on Thursday evening that negotiators were trying to strike general terms on the highly enriched uranium settled in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.
Vance said the continued back and forth involved “a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment.”
Iran has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It is believed to be buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. airstrikes last year.
Nuclear analysts have said that Iran might consider China or Russia, which have close relations with Tehran, to be a potential acceptable third party to take possession of the enriched uranium. But Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be comfortable” with such a plan.
Though Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that one of their prime objectives was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, Vance framed the war’s accomplishments as something far less definitive.
“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said. “That’s a very very good thing for the American people.”
Iran, which has long maintained its program is peaceful, has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre. At least 14 people were killed across the country’s south.
—AP