US, Iran move toward deal framework after Trump halts Hormuz operation
Iran said it is reviewing the US proposal and will relay its response through mediator Pakistan.
WASHINGTON — The United States and Iran are edging toward a deal to resume negotiations after President Donald Trump reversed course on a US effort to assist stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian official and multiple regional sources said.
Trump on Wednesday warned that the United States would resume bombing Iran “at a much higher level and intensity” if it doesn’t agree to a deal. Writing in a Truth Social post, Trump said it was “perhaps a big assumption” that Iran would agree to the terms put forward by his negotiators.
Trump appeared to be referring to a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, first reported by Axios on Wednesday. The outlet said the Trump administration believes it is nearing an agreement on the document, which would establish a framework for more detailed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House did not immediately return an Al-Monitor request for comment.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Wednesday that Tehran was reviewing the US proposal.
“After finalizing its considerations, Iran will convey its views to the Pakistani side,” Baghaei said in an interview with the semiofficial news agency ISNA.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Iranian official said there has been progress on determining the “framework for negotiations” but that nothing has been finalized.
The same sticking points that have plagued talks for months remain unresolved. Chief among them is Iran’s insistence on its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes, and the question of whether its stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be removed.
Iran possesses roughly 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium that, if further enriched, could be used to develop as many as 11 nuclear weapons.
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced he was pausing, “for a short period of time,” a US maritime operation that began a day earlier to guide commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hours earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the naval operation as necessary to stop what he described as Iran’s “last-ditch act of economic arson.” Some 20,000 seafarers have been stranded in the Gulf since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz following the US and Israeli launch of the war on Feb. 28.
Rubio urged the Iranian government “to make a sensible choice” and return to the negotiating table. The two countries held one round of direct talks in Islamabad on April 12 led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Trump told PBS that sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to a new round of talks was "unlikely” but that a deal could be reached before his trip to China next week.
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. According to a Xinhua readout of the meeting, Wang said that “a comprehensive cessation of hostilities should not be delayed” between the United States and Iran and that “sticking to negotiations” is critical.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said in an X post on Wednesday that Islamabad is “hopeful that the current momentum” will lead to a lasting agreement between Tehran and Washington.
This breaking story has been updated since it was first published.
