US and Iran Reach Framework to Extend Ceasefire and Open Nuclear Talks

American and Iranian negotiators have reportedly settled on the outline of a deal that would keep their ceasefire in place for another 60 days and kick off fresh talks over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, according to US officials who spoke to the BBC.

There’s a catch, though — nothing is final yet. The officials made clear that the framework still needs a green light from both President Donald Trump and Iran’s leadership before it means anything. And the signals coming out of Tehran aren’t exactly lining up: Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency cited a source close to the talks who insisted the deal had neither been finalised nor confirmed.

That uncertainty isn’t surprising, given how shaky the truce has looked lately. Over the past few days, Washington and Tehran have each pointed the finger at the other for breaking it. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it hit a US base in the region on Thursday, a move that came after overnight American strikes in southern Iran.

A day earlier, Iranian state media floated what it called an unofficial draft of a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the two sides. According to that report, the document covered lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, pulling American forces back from areas near Iran, and reopening civilian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran and Oman jointly managing how vessels are routed. The White House wasn’t having it, dismissing the supposed draft as a “complete fabrication”.

The Strait matters far beyond this dispute. Roughly a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas and oil usually moves through that narrow corridor, so any disruption there ripples straight into global fuel markets.

Ever since the original ceasefire took hold on 8 April, Trump has repeatedly hinted that an agreement was within reach and that talks were moving forward — yet there’s been little concrete to show for it. Negotiations held in Islamabad just days after the truce began, for instance, wrapped up with nothing substantial on paper.

Almost every time the subject comes up, Trump and his team have kept the threat of “option B” — going back to military action — firmly on the table, including as recently as Wednesday. Just last week, Trump told reporters he’d come within an hour of ordering renewed strikes before backing off at the urging of US allies. In Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, he said the talks were making progress but described Iran’s proposal as “not there yet”, with work still left to do.

What shifted in the 24 hours after that is anyone’s guess, and it’s still unclear whether — or when — Trump will actually sign off. If he does, it would clear the way for both sides to dig into the trickier, more technical questions, chiefly Iran’s nuclear programme and its remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Trump has floated a few options for that stockpile: the US taking it, or the two countries diluting it together, either inside Iran or somewhere else.

Axios, which broke the story of the tentative deal on Thursday, reported that Trump had been briefed but hadn’t signed off right away and wanted a couple of days to think it over. Notably, US sources confirming that anonymously sourced reporting is unusual — a hint that the two governments may be closer to a deal now than at any point in the six-plus weeks since the ceasefire began.

According to those reports, the arrangement could allow “unrestricted” passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran given 30 days to clear mines from the waterway. The US, in turn, would drop its blockade and grant sanctions waivers so Iran could start selling oil again.

Responding to a question from the BBC’s Daniel Bush on Thursday, Vice-President JD Vance said “the Iranians want a deal”, but that it was too soon to predict “when or if” one would actually land. Negotiators, he explained, are still “going back and forth on a couple of language points”, with enrichment among the sticking issues. “We do think they’re negotiating in good faith,” he added.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the White House briefing, wouldn’t confirm that anything had been agreed. “It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president,” he said, stressing that the final call rests with Trump. Asked whether any eventual peace deal might include reconstruction for Iran, he kept it short: get to the deal first, then worry about what comes after.