TEHRAN: The United States and Iran could strike a deal to end the Middle East war as early as Sunday, Washington’s top diplomat Marco Rubio said, while Tehran insisted the agreement would do nothing to limit its nuclear program.
Washington and Tehran have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while mediators push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has imposed controls on Gulf shipping and the US has blockaded Iran’s ports.
On Sunday, during a visit to India, US Secretary of State Rubio told reporters: “I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news.”
This came after US President Donald Trump posted on social media that the deal “has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries.”
Rubio said the agreement would start a “process that can ultimately leave us where the president wants us to be, and that is a world that no longer has to fear or worry about an Iranian nuclear weapon.”
Trump’s post stressed that the Strait of Hormuz would be re-opened, a development that would bring relief to energy markets after a long Iranian blockade of a crucial waterway that in peacetime carries a fifth of world oil exports.
European leaders, keen to see Hormuz open and energy prices fall, welcomed the optimism. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed “progress toward an agreement,” while Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to work with “international partners to seize this moment.”
Iranian officials confirmed the existence of a draft agreement, but stressed that — despite the long-standing US demand for an end to its uranium enrichment — talks on the issue of Iran’s contested nuclear program have been deferred for 60 days after any deal.
‘No rush’
Trump said Sunday that he had told US negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran, amid anticipation — and mounting criticism — of an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.
“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”
The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports since April 13 after Tehran virtually halted traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began February 28.
“Both sides must take their time and get it right,” Trump wrote in the same Truth Social post, while slamming the 2015 nuclear deal that former president Barack Obama agreed with Iran.
“Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one. They must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote.
‘Lasting peace’
According to Iran’s Fars news agency, Washington has agreed to release part of Tehran’s funds frozen abroad under international sanctions and to end its naval blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports.
In exchange, “according to this draft, passage through the Strait of Hormuz would return to pre-war levels under Iranian management.”
And, Fars said, “sanctions on oil, gas, petrochemicals and their derivatives would be temporarily lifted during the negotiation period so that Iran can freely sell its products.”
Other Iranian media signalled that the negotiations were on a knife edge, with the hard-line Javan newspaper saying the two sides were “just one step away from ending hostilities, and one step away from war.”
Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkiye and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday.
Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian delegations in April, hopes to host another round of talks “very soon,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
He said Pakistan’s powerful army chief Asim Munir, who visited Tehran on Friday and Saturday, also joined the call, which “provided a useful opportunity... to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region.”
Criticism mounts
Several voices, notably among Republican lawmakers close to Trump, expressed fears of an agreement favorable to Iran as supposed aspects of the deal that began to leak.
According to news outlet Axios, a possible agreement would extend the current ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on Iran’s nuclear program.
The top Republican senator overseeing defense policy, Roger Wicker, said that agreeing to a “rumored 60-day ceasefire” with Iran would mean, “everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!“
Fellow Republican senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham also voiced opposition to Iran soon gaining benefits such as the ability to sell its oil freely.
“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz, a Republican from Texas, wrote on X.
Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said the deal “doesn’t make sense to me.”
“We were told about 11 weeks ago by (Secretary of Defense Pete) Hegseth and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran’s defenses, and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we’re talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all?” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union” morning program.
