Iran and Pakistan on Saturday sent a revised draft proposal to the United States aimed at ending the war, according to Pakistani sources familiar with the negotiations.
The US response to the proposal, which also addressed the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, is expected by Sunday, the sources told Reuters news agency. Meanwhile, officials suggested that Washington and Tehran were nearing agreement on a memorandum of understanding.
This comes even as Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir left Tehran after meeting with senior leaders, including Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Iran signalled “narrowing differences” between both sides, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in India that “there’s some progress made”, the Associated Press reported. Rubio further claimed that there “may be news later today.”
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What have Trump and Iran said?
US President Trump has hinted at keeping the military option open, while also telling CBS that America and Iran were “getting a lot closer” to an agreement to end the war.
Trump told Axios it was a “solid 50/50” chance of whether he would be able to make a “good” deal or else “blow them (Iran) to kingdom come.” He further said he would meet with his negotiators – Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – later on Saturday to discuss Iran’s latest proposal, and was likely to decide on whether to resume the conflict on Sunday. Vice President JD Vance is also expected to attend the meeting.
The US President is expected to hold a call with Gulf leaders to discuss the matter, with leaders from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey expected to join, Axios cited two sources as saying.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the draft was a “framework agreement”, and said the nuclear issue was not a part of negotiations at this stage.
“We want this to include the main issues required for ending the imposed war and other issues of essential importance to us. Then, over a reasonable time span, between 30 to 60 days, details are discussed and ultimately a final agreement is reached,” AP cited Baghaei as saying. Meanwhile, Pakistan, which is mediating, said the MoU had been “fine-tuned”, and said there had been “significant progress” on the points which came up during the earlier talks in Islamabad. Pakistan further said there had been “encouraging progress toward a final understanding,” according to Axios.
Officials and diplomats expressed expressed hope that a final decision on the draft would come before 48 hours.
