US President Donald Trump says he has instructed negotiators \u201cnot to rush into a deal\u201d with Iran, after earlier suggesting an agreement was close.<\/p>\n
The deal under discussion reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a plan for further negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Trump said \u201cconstructive\u201d talks were proceeding but \u201cboth sides must take their time and get it right\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump said on Saturday an agreement had been \u201clargely negotiated\u201d, prompting speculation an announcement could be imminent.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials gave similar signals over the weekend, with foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei saying the two sides are both \u201cvery close and very far\u201d from reaching an agreement.<\/p>\n
According to US media, the mooted deal is not a final settlement and instead leaves some of the thorniest issues to be negotiated later, including the scope and timing of Iranian sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and Washington\u2019s demands for Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n
The reported deal has split Republicans, with some publicly arguing it is too lenient on Iran.<\/p>\n
Senator Ted Cruz said it would be \u201ca disastrous mistake\u201d, while Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a 60-day ceasefire would mean \u201ceverything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!\u201d<\/p>\n
But Representative Mike Lawler, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the administration has managed to \u201cforce the remnants of this regime into a negotiation, a real negotiation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on 28 February, sparking conflict across the Middle East. Iran responded by attacking Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, and effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas travels. The move sent oil prices soaring globally.<\/p>\n
Shortly after a ceasefire was agreed in early April, the US established a blockade of Iranian ports which Trump says will remain \u201cin full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Sunday\u2019s post on Truth Social, Trump reiterated that Iran \u201cmust understand\u201d it cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has repeatedly said its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.<\/p>\n
Some reports in US media suggest the deal could see Iran agree to eventually hand over its highly-enriched uranium.<\/p>\n
At the start of the war, Iran is thought to have had about 440kg (970 lbs) of uranium that was enriched up to 60% purity \u2013 a short process away from being enriched further to the weapons-grade 90%, which theoreticallycould allow it to create a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state TV Iran was ready \u201cto assure the world that we are not after a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said that \u201csignificant\u201d but \u201cnot final\u201d progress had been made in the negotiations. He hinted that progress over the past 48 hours could result in a \u201ccompletely open strait\u2026 without tolls\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Baghaei told state television that Iran was in the process of finalising a \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d which would allow additional talks over a \u201cfinal agreement\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also described the deal as a \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d in a Truth Social post on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, who has been mediating talks, has said that recent negotiations are \u201cgrounds for optimism\u201d that a positive outcome is \u201cwithin reach\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump says he has instructed negotiators \u201cnot to rush into a deal\u201d with Iran, after earlier suggesting an agreement was close. The deal under discussion reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a plan for further negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. In a social media post, Trump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}