The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to extend their ceasefire by 60 days and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, sources told Reuters on Thursday, though President Donald Trump has yet to approve it and Iranian state media said the text had not been finalised.
Four sources familiar with the matter said the deal would extend the truce and allow traffic to resume through the strategic waterway while negotiators work through harder issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme. It would also require the US to lift its blockade of Iranian ports and ease some sanctions on Iranian oil sales.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re very close and we’re going to keep on working at it,” US Vice President JD Vance told reporters in Washington. “I can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there, but right now I feel pretty good about it.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said the text had not been finalised or confirmed. Tehran had not commented publicly on the reported deal.
News of the possible agreement, first reported by Axios, sent oil prices lower on hopes of a potential reopening of the strait, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply passed before the war began on 28 February.
If approved by both leaderships, it would represent the most significant step toward peace since the conflict began, killing thousands and upending global energy markets. The Trump administration has several times said a deal was close, only for Iran to dispute or downplay the claims.
MILITARY INCIDENTS CONTINUE
The reports came after a fresh round of tit-for-tat strikes. US Central Command said its forces had shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth. Kuwaiti forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward the country, which hosts a large US military base. Kuwait condemned the attack and demanded Iran immediately halt what it called a serious escalation.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted the US base responsible for the Bandar Abbas strike, warning that any repeat would prompt a “more decisive response,” according to Tasnim. A US official said the strikes were defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire. The US also denied an Iranian state television report that a US aircraft had been shot down near Bushehr.
The violence — the second flare-up this week — coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, celebrated across a region where multiple countries have been drawn into the conflict.
LEBANON AND OMAN
Iran has insisted any peace deal must also end US ally Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, where fighting shows no sign of abating. Israel said it had struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the southern city of Tyre and carried out an attack in Beirut. The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers had been killed in a strike. Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in its push deep into Lebanon in pursuit of the Iran-backed armed group.
Washington also renewed its warning to Oman not to participate in any Iranian effort to impose tolls on Strait of Hormuz transit. Trump threatened on Wednesday to bomb the country despite longstanding economic and military ties. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Oman’s ambassador had told him there were no plans for such tolls. Oman said it had discussed freedom of navigation with Iran but had not raised the idea of joint control of the strait. Tehran expressed solidarity with Oman following what it described as US threats.
Mediator Pakistan said its foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, would meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday, though the significance of the visit was not immediately clear.
(Reuters)