Since the initial ceasefire between the US and Iran came into effect on 8 April, Trump has suggested – repeatedly – that the two sides are close to a deal and that negotiations are progressing, but so far there have been no substantive results.
Talks that took place in Islamabad just days after the ceasefire took hold, for example, ended without any substantive agreement.
In nearly every case, and as recently as Wednesday, Trump and other officials have warned that “option B” – a return to combat operations – remains on the table.
Just last week, Trump told reporters that he had been an hour from ordering renewed strikes on Iran but ultimately held off at the request of US allies.
In a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said that talks were progressing but insisted that the Iranian proposal was “not there yet” and that work remained.
It is unclear what took place in the subsequent 24 hours, or when – or even if – Trump will give his final approval for the agreement to extend the ceasefire.
Doing so, however, would allow US and Iranian teams to discuss the far more complicated and technical issues at play, particularly about Iran’s nuclear programme and its remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Trump had suggested that US could take it, or, together with Iran, dilute it in place or in a third location.
Axios, which first reported the tentative agreement on Thursday, said that Trump had been briefed on the proposal but did not immediately sign off on it and would take a couple of days to consider it.
The confirmation from US sources of anonymously sourced Axios reporting on the contours of the agreement is rare, suggesting that the two sides may be closer to a deal than they were at any previous point during the more than six-week-old ceasefire.
Reports say the deal could allow “unrestricted” passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran would have 30 days to remove mines from the narrow shipping passageway.
The US would also lift its blockade, and issue sanction waivers to allow Iran to resume selling oil.
Leading the White House briefing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to confirm that an agreement had been reached.
“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president,” he said, “and it is all going to be the president’s decision”.
Asked about whether any eventual peace deal includes “reconstruction” for Iran, he said: “‘We’ve got to get to the deal before we get to the other side.”
