Tehran denies US claims of extension to Iran war ceasefire

In negotiations between the United States and Iran to end the war that began three months ago, uncertainty, denials and — in Washington’s case — an urgent desire to announce some sort of deal have taken firm hold. A senior White House official speaking on condition of anonymity announced on Thursday a framework agreement that Tehran shortly afterwards denied.

According to that Washington source, both sides had signed off on a draft that only awaited final approval from U.S. President Donald Trump. That framework supposedly included a 60-day memorandum of understanding that would extend the current ceasefire for that period, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But official outlets in Tehran deny that any text has been finalized, hours after a new round of military skirmishes in the Persian Gulf area. And the White House itself has avoided confirming exactly where things stand.

“We perhaps have the makings of a deal here… Everything depends on what the president wants to do,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted on Thursday at the White House weekly briefing, refusing to be drawn either way.

The president’s view is decisive. Trump has previously walked back advances approved by his team. In prior days the president boasted that he was not interested in a pact that only satisfied some of his demands, and that he was in no hurry to reach an understanding that did not fully satisfy him. Trump himself had even said late last weekend that an agreement between the two adversaries was practically done, only to retract that claim barely a day later.

The semi-official Iranian agency Tasnim, for its part, published that Tehran has not told the Pakistani mediators that the memorandum is finalized, but that it will inform both the intermediaries and the public once it is. According to that account, Washington’s claims that an agreement has been reached are false.

If the memorandum of understanding goes ahead, as the Axios news site reported, the deal would represent the biggest diplomatic advance since the start of the war, although what has been hinted at in terms of its content leaves many loose ends and obstacles. On the most sensitive issue, Iran’s nuclear program, the two sides maintain positions that are diametrically opposed.

It seems hard to imagine that in a mere 60-day extension of the ceasefire the parties will be able to resolve their differences. And what would supposedly be achieved — the gradual reopening of Hormuz and the end of hostilities — would be nothing more than a return to the status quo that existed on February 27, the day before the U.S.-Israeli offensive was launched. But now, with the additional toll of thousands dead, widespread destruction even of military bases in the area, enormous military spending, and a severe hit to the global economy.

A deal the president can sell as a success would, in any event, be a very welcome breath of fresh air for a Trump already eager to move on from a conflict he launched thinking it would be resolved in the blink of an eye. The war is deeply unpopular with voters and has driven his approval rating to its lowest levels in his second term so far, between 34% and 37%, according to polls. Inflation is rising again and last month stood at 3.8%, driven by a nearly 50% jump in gasoline prices from pre-conflict levels. Other goods have risen as well.

It is an alarming situation for the White House ahead of the midterm elections in November, although the president declared on Wednesday, at a Cabinet meeting, that he was not “worried” about those contests in which control of Congress is at stake and, with it, the ability to block the president’s legislative agenda; or even, if the opposition Democrats win, to pursue impeachments against the president and members of his administration.

So far Iran has not confirmed the closure of this preliminary agreement, while the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, prepares to meet in Washington with one of Pakistan’s mediators in the negotiation process, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

According to Axios, the memorandum will stipulate that maritime traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz will be “unrestricted.” That implies there will be no toll mechanisms or harassment of merchant ships transiting the bottleneck that links the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean. Iran will remove the mines it used to block passage within 30 days, the media outlet reports, citing a senior U.S. official.

In turn, the United States will lift the naval blockade it imposed on Iranian ports, although it notes that this will be conditioned on the restoration of commercial maritime traffic. Washington will also approve a series of waivers to its sanctions on Iran so that the country can sell its oil abroad.

The memorandum, Axios reports, will include a commitment from Iran not to develop a nuclear weapon. Sources for the outlet say that one of the first issues to be addressed in the 60-day negotiations would be one of the thorniest between the two adversaries: the highly enriched uranium that Iran already holds, but which lies buried many meters deep under the rubble of the nuclear facilities the United States bombed in June last year. The negotiations will address how to remove that uranium and what will happen with Iran’s uranium-enrichment activities.

Relief of sanctions

Also, according to these reports, the United States commits to address in those talks the easing of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian funds derived from oil sales that were seized as a result of punitive measures. The two enemies would also discuss a mechanism to help Iran begin receiving goods and humanitarian aid from abroad. On Wednesday, speaking during a Cabinet meeting, Trump had ruled out that Washington would negotiate with Tehran over the return of funds or the easing of sanctions.

Thursday’s announcement came hours after an exchange of attacks between the two military forces. The skirmishes, though of low intensity, underscore the fragility of the talks and of the ceasefire in effect since April 8. According to a U.S. senior official speaking on condition of anonymity, Iran launched five drones in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, which it has kept blocked, and the United States intercepted and shot them down. U.S. forces detected that a military facility in southern Iran was preparing to launch a sixth drone and bombed it to prevent that.

In retaliation for those strikes, Tehran’s forces fired a ballistic missile toward Kuwait, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said. The emirate’s military, which hosts a large U.S. base, intercepted the projectile, according to Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. forces in the Middle East. It was the second clash between the two forces this week, and coincided with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

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