US, Iran explore short-term deal to end fighting

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON/DUBAI, May 7 (Reuters): The United States and Iran are edging toward a limited, temporary agreement to halt their war, sources and officials said on Thursday, with a draft framework that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved.
The emerging plan centres on a short-term memorandum rather than a comprehensive peace deal, underscoring deep divisions between the two sides and signalling that it would be an interim step.
Hopes that even a partial deal could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz have already moved markets, with global stocks approaching record highs on Thursday and oil prices nursing steep losses on bets that supply disruptions could ease.
Tehran and Washington are working towards a temporary arrangement aimed at preventing a return to conflict and stabilising shipping through the strait, the sources and officials said.
"Our priority is that they announce a permanent end to war and the rest of the issues could be thrashed out once they get back to direct talks," a senior Pakistani official involved in mediation between the two sides told Reuters.
The proposed framework would unfold in three stages: formally ending the war, resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and launching a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement, according to the sources and officials.
"We remain optimistic," Tahir Andrabi, foreign ministry spokesperson of mediator Pakistan, told a briefing in Islamabad on Thursday when asked how quickly a deal could come.
"A simple answer would be that we expect an agreement sooner rather than later."
US President Donald Trump - who has repeatedly played up the prospect of a breakthrough since the war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran - has also struck an optimistic tone.
"They want to make a deal... it's very possible," he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, adding later that "it'll be over quickly."
The proposal would formally end the conflict in which full-scale warfare was paused by a ceasefire announced on April 7. But it leaves unresolved key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear work and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the sources said.
AFP adds, French President Emmanuel Macron said he told Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday that attacks on Emirati civilian infrastructure and ships near the Strait of Hormuz were "unjustified".
"I expressed my deep concern about the ongoing escalation and condemned the unjustified strikes against Emirati civilian infrastructure and several ships," he said on X after the discussion.
The Iranian presidency said on its website that Macron and Pezeshkian had discussed the latest regional developments, the course of negotiations and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz in a telephone call.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said that sanctions on Iran will not be lifted unless the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened and free of restrictions imposed by Iranian forces.
"We ourselves have imposed significant sanctions on Iran. But it is out of the question that any sanction whatsoever be lifted as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked," Barrot told French broadcaster RTL.
"It cannot be blocked, subjected to tolls, or used as leverage or blackmail."
Iran denied on Thursday that its armed forces had been involved in an explosion that struck a South Korean vessel in the Strait of Hormuz this week.
Tehran "firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations regarding the involvement of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the incident involving damage to a Korean vessel in the Strait of Hormuz", its embassy in Seoul said in a statement.