The USA and Iran reached an agreement on Thursday to increase their ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, sources told Reuters, though U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to approve it and Iranian state media said it had not been finalized.
Based on 4 sources acquainted with the matter, the agreement would extend the truce for an additional 60 days and permit traffic to flow through the strategic waterway while negotiators tackle difficult issues resembling Iran’s nuclear program.
If approved by leadership in Washington and Tehran, it might amount to the most important step towards peace because the conflict began on February 28. News of the possible agreement got here after a round of tit-for-tat attacks between the 2 countries, the most recent such incident because the ceasefire took effect in early April.
Trump has not yet approved the deal, the sources said. The White House declined to comment, and Iran has yet to comment on news of the proposed deal, which was first reported by Axios.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source near the negotiating team, said the text of the agreement had not been finalized or confirmed.
The Trump administration has several times said a deal to finish the fighting was close, only to have Iran dispute or downplay the claims.
The deal would specify unrestricted shipping through the strait and would require the U.S. also lift its blockade of Iranian ports. The U.S. would also lift some sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
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The reports prompted oil prices to fall on hopes of a possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.
Earlier, U.S. Central Command said its forces had shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station within the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth. Kuwaiti forces then intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the country, which hosts a big U.S. base.
The incident, while limited, highlighted the fragility of negotiations to show the tenuous ceasefire into an enduring agreement to finish the three-month-old war, which has killed hundreds and upended global energy markets.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were defensive and intended to take care of the ceasefire.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted the U.S. base accountable for the Bandar Abbas attack, and that any repeat would result in a “more decisive response,” Tasnim news agency reported.
Kuwait condemned the attack and demanded that Iran immediately halt what it called a serious escalation.
The violence, the second flare-up this week, coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha celebrated across the region, where multiple countries have been caught up within the conflict.
Mediator Pakistan said its foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, would meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, although the importance of his visit was unclear.
Trump has repeatedly said an end to the war is close since mid-March, though the 2 sides have shown little public movement toward common ground. Iran has called for sanctions to be lifted, foreign assets to be unfrozen, and U.S. forces to be withdrawn from the region. Washington has called for Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.
Iran says any peace deal must also end U.S. ally Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, but that conflict shows no signs of flagging. Israel said it had targeted infrastructure of Iran-backed Hezbollah militants within the southern city of Tyre and had carried out a strike within the capital Beirut. Israel has displaced a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals with a push deep into Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah. The Lebanese army said a strike had killed one in every of its soldiers.
The U.S. warned Oman to not become involved in any effort with Iran to impose a toll within the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump on Wednesday threatened to bomb the country, despite a history of economic and military ties between the 2 countries.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Oman’s ambassador had told him there have been no plans to impose such tolls.
Oman has not mentioned the thought of joint control of the strait with Iran, with which it says it has discussed freedom of navigation. Tehran expressed solidarity with Oman after what it called “U.S. officials’ threats.”
