US, Iran seek to finalize 'largely negotiated' deal to end war

WASHINGTON

The United States and Iran sought on Sunday to finalize an agreement to formally end the Middle East war after Donald Trump said a proposal that included opening the blockaded Strait of Hormuz was "largely negotiated".

However, the U.S. president emphasized that the deal was still "subject to finalization", while the New York Times reported that the two sides would only address thorny issues about Iran's nuclear program after an initial pact was reached.

"An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

"In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened," he said, a development that would bring relief to global energy markets after a months-long Iranian blockade of the crucial thoroughfare for oil shipments.

Leaders from Middle Eastern countries incuding Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkey and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday, the U.S. president said.

Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between U.S. and Iranian delegations in April, hoped 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, also joined the call, which "provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on... how to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region."

Trump said a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "went very well." U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked the war, with fighting persisting for weeks before a temporary ceasefire came into force in April.

"Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," Trump said, without providing specifics.

The New York Times, citing unnamed American officials, reported that the details of an "apparent commitment" by Tehran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be discussed after the initial agreement was struck.

The report said the current proposal does not define how exactly Tehran would relinquish its stocks of the fuel crucial for building nuclear weapons, a scenario that Washington has long said it will not accept in Iran.

Iranian officials have stressed that gaps between the sides persist and the dispute over the nuclear program would not be part of initial negotiations.

Iran has not commented on Trump's announcement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei earlier noted "a trend towards rapprochement" with Washington but said "it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues."

"Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement," he said on state television.

Baqaei added that he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out "within a reasonable timeframe between 30 to 60 days" after the initial framework was complete.

'Another act of folly'

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumed hostilities, after U.S. media reports raised the prospect of new strikes.

"Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war," Ghalibaf said.

On the war's other main front in Lebanon, state media reported Israel struck the country's south on Saturday, where fighting has continued despite an April 17 ceasefire.

Lebanon's military said a strike targeted a Lebanese army barracks in the south and wounded a soldier, while Israel said one of its soldiers was killed on Friday near the border.

Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader.

Hezbollah said Saturday its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Iran's foreign minister indicating that Tehran "will not give up its support" for the Lebanese group.