Washington and Iran have "largely negotiated" a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump said, as expectations rose that a breakthrough might be imminent in the three-month-old war, reports Reuters.
Trump said the emerging agreement being brokered by Pakistan would reopen the strait, the vital shipping passage whose closure has sparked a global energy crisis since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in February. He did not say what else would be included in an agreement. "Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
Various media in the US and Iran said the memorandum sets out a framework for ending months of fighting, lifting a US blockade on Iranian shipping and reopening the waterway, which Iran has shut with threats to attack shipping.
Plans for Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which Washington has insisted it give up, would be negotiated within 30 to 60 days, the reports said.
Hope For Relief In Global Energy Crisis
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to India, said more news could come on Sunday. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that if Iran's Supreme National Security Council approved the memorandum, it would be sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei for final approval.
But Iran's Tasnim news agency said differences remained over one or two clauses. Tasnim cited a source as saying there would be no final understanding if the US continued to create obstacles.
A deal cementing the current fragile ceasefire would bring relief to markets but not immediately quell a global energy crisis, which has driven up costs of fuel, fertilizer and food.
At around $103.50, the price of Brent crude LCOc1 is 43 percent higher than when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February. Even if the war ends now, full flows through the strait will not return before the first or second quarter of 2027, the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said last week.
