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Two Iranian drones were shot down last night, a U.S. official said. Iranian media reported that its military had stopped a tanker from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The deal between the U.S. and Iran, which will initially begin as a memorandum of understanding, will include a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a live interview on state TV, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
It is not clear if Israel will agree to these terms, as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz previously said that his country will not withdraw from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza or the West Bank.
Another part of the deal is for the U.S. and Iran to respect each other’s sovereignty and not meddle in each other’s affairs, Araghchi said, according to Fars news, adding that Israel is opposed to the agreement.
Details regarding two key issues — Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions — will be finalized in the next stage, which will be formal negotiations, Araghchi said in the interview.
“The negotiations are structured in 2 stages. The first stage is writing the memorandum, and the second stage is the start of formal negotiations,” Araghchi said, according to Fars. “The nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions on Iran have been deferred to the second stage, for which a 60-day negotiation period has been envisaged.”
He added, “In the second stage of the negotiations, discussions will cover the lifting of sanctions, uranium enrichment, the future status of enriched material stockpiles, and the framework for Iran’s reconstruction fund.”
Araghchi also noted that Iran would prefer to keep the enriched uranium within the country.
“From our perspective, the only acceptable method for dealing with the enriched material is to dilute it within Iran,” Araghchi said, according to Fars.
Araghchi said that the outcome of the discussions about the memorandum of understanding is “a 14-point memorandum, and once it is finalized, we will explain every single provision of it to the public,” according to Fars.
Araghchi said in the interview that the difficulty in reaching agreement on the wording for the memorandum has been highlighted in that it has taken two months to come up with a document that is less than two pages.
The U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports will be lifted and Iran’s frozen assets will be released after the signing of the memorandum of understanding, Araghchi said in the interview, according to the state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency. Araghchi also said that a reconstruction plan has been included in the agreement to address war-related damage.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X that commitments for deal being must be kept.
“Commitments made must be commitments kept. No ifs, no buts, no excuses. For the close deal ahead, there is no other way,” Ghalibaf wrote. “You reap what you sow.”
Ghalibaf led the Iranian delegation in talks with the U.S. in Islamabad in April.
The memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, if agreed to, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately without tolls and restore prewar shipping within approximately 30 days, as well as lifting the U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, sources tell NBC News.
A regional source, a source familiar with the agreement and a diplomat with knowledge of the text have shared some of the components of the deal, which Trump said today could be signed within days.
The final sign-off from Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is the last missing piece, according to the sources.
The agreement would include a 60-day extension of the current ceasefire, which effectively collapsed this week with both sides resuming strikes. The prospective agreement includes Lebanon, where Israel has renewed its deadly offensive against Hezbollah.
Under the MOU, some steps toward addressing Iran’s nuclear program would happen immediately upon signing, while other aspects will need further negotiation.
The deal, brokered by Qatar and Pakistan, would be called the Islamabad agreement and could possibly include a signing ceremony with Vice President JD Vance. The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but Trump told reporters yesterday it was his understanding that Khamenei had already signed off on the deal. A senior administration official earlier told NBC News that the “performance-based deal” would see no money released to Iran until it honors its commitments.
Iran is in the “final stages of internal deliberations” regarding the memorandum of understanding with the U.S., Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has said.
Baghaei said that he could not comment on where or when the deal would be signed, according to Iran’s semi-official news agency, Fars.
“We must first wait for a final decision to be made internally,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said earlier in a post on X that an “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding” between the U.S. and Iran has “never been closer.”
Araghchi warned the media against speculating about the contents of the agreement, saying that Iran would share all details with the public “in due course.”
Trump told Axios that he still believes a deal with Iran could be signed over the weekend or Monday, despite condemning what he said was fake information put out by Tehran on its contents.
In a brief phone call, he told the outlet he had demanded clarification from Iran for state media reports that claimed the country would receive billions in frozen assets after the deal was signed, adding that officials privately “apologized for putting out false information.”
In an earlier Truth Social post, he said: “The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing. What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth.”
As details surface of a possible deal between the U.S. and Iran, Vice President JD Vance has hit back at concerns being raised by “people who (rightly) said Donald Trump was a historic president a month ago.”
Vance said in an X post that “fake information” was being shared about the deal, stressing: “The Iranians are not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting.”
He added: “If the Islamic Republic of Iran meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region.”
Some Republicans had raised concerns over reports of the deal’s contents from Iranian media. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said in an X post: “I am very glad to hear from @POTUS that Iranian media reports about the so-called deal are fake because the deal as described by Iran would be awful.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said today that “a final, agreed upon text of the peace deal has been reached” and his country is working the U.S. and Iran to “finalize next steps.”
“Peace has never been this close as it is now,” Sharif wrote on X. There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. or Iran that the final text had been agreed.
Pakistan has been a key mediator across the peace process. Sharif also condemned what he called an “incessant misinformation campaign” by people who want to sabotage the deal. Sharif did not clarify who he believes is behind the campaign or what misinformation he is referring to.
A senior Trump administration official says that a possible “performance-based deal” being discussed with Iran would see no money released until Tehran honors its commitments.
The official said today that under the draft deal, which is still tentative and subject to change, Iran has agreed to the removal and destruction of its nuclear material, the dismantling of its nuclear program, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The funding of terrorist groups would be prohibited under the draft deal.
The U.S. account of the deal differs significantly from reports in Iranian media. Iran’s official state news agency IRNA said earlier today that the current draft of the memorandum of understanding with the U.S. includes “no new commitments” on nuclear weapons, pending further negotiations.
The Israeli military has issued fresh evacuation orders in three areas in southern Lebanon today amid its ramped-up operations in the area this week.
In an “urgent warning” to residents of southern Lebanon, its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the areas under evacuation orders included Sarafand, a municipality around 8 miles south of Sidon, Tuffahta, to the east and Mazraat Sinay, further south.
In light of Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the military is compelled to act forcefully against them,” Adraee said in his statement, calling on residents to evacuate their homes and move north of the Zahrani River.
Israel has issued a series of evacuation orders in southern Lebanon in recent days, with more than 1 million people displaced and more than 3,700 killed since the wider war began in the region in late February, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that while the U.S. is leading efforts toward an agreement with Iran, Israel will ensure that it can “retain the ability to act independently” against Iran in the future.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to prepare accordingly,” Katz wrote on X today.
Katz said that the deal being pursued by Trump is “based on American interests, including the shared interest with Israel of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” adding: “We expect him to stand firm on this principle, as well as on additional principles regarding missiles and Iran’s terrorist proxies.”
He also said that Israel “will not withdraw from the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza” under the terms of the deal. Iran has previously demanded that the peace agreement include an end to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, where 3,711 people have been killed since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
“Our security doctrine is clear and decisive: we act against threats both near and far, and we seek decisive outcomes—not compromises and concessions,” Katz wrote.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has reiterated that the country’s leaders have yet to make a final decision on a “preliminary understanding” with the U.S., according to Iranian state media.
“The decision making process in the Islamic Republic of Iran is clearly defined and the relevant authorities must reach a conclusion on every provision of the text and on any potential understanding before a final decision is taken,” Baghaei said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Baghaei said that an official announcement regarding an agreement would be made immediately after a final outcome is reached.
The official added that the details of a signing ceremony involving the two sides has yet to be discussed. “What has been reported so far in this regard has largely been media speculation,” Baghaei said.
Trump has denied Iranian reports about the contents of the deal that he said yesterday would soon be finalized between the two countries.
“The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing,” he wrote on Truth Social this morning, after Iranian state media earlier reported that nuclear weapons would not be covered by the deal.
“What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth,” he added.
Iranian officials have stressed that a deal had not yet been finalized, despite Trump saying yesterday that “discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized that he and Trump are “in complete agreement” that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons as peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran continue.
“As long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said in a statement today. “President Trump and I are in complete agreement on this issue,” he added.
Netanyahu, who faces an election later this year, noted that under his leadership Israel has long fought to ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon. He said that “if it weren’t for this struggle, Iran would have had atomic bombs to destroy Israel long ago.”
Iran has maintained that it does not seek to develop a nuclear weapon, while Trump administration officials have said averting the risk of Iranian nuclear weapons would be central to any deal to end the war.
Iran has made no commitments regarding its nuclear program or control of the Strait of Hormuz in the current draft of the memorandum of understanding with the U.S., Iran’s official state news agency IRNA says.
According to IRNA, the “current draft agreement” states that “Iran undertakes no new commitments” on nuclear weapons, with further negotiations on the issue set to take place in a 60-day period following the signing of the agreement.
Those negotiations would focus on “the continuation of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the lifting of unilateral American sanctions and mechanisms for compensation and reparations,” IRNA says.
Across weeks of negotiations, there have been repeated contradictory signals from U.S. and Iranian officials on the contents of the draft deal, which Trump indicated yesterday is close to being signed.
IRNA says the current draft agreement also makes no commitment regarding the transfer of control over the Strait of Hormuz, adding that future administration of the crucial waterway will be decided jointly by Iran and Oman, with no American role.
Other key points in the draft agreement include an end to the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and the immediate release of a portion of Iran’s frozen assets, according to the Iranian broadcaster.
The Israeli military says it launched more than 300 strikes in southern Lebanon over the past week as it ramped up operations in the area in what it has said is a bid to root out Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
It outlined the strikes in a statement posted to Telegram saying troops continued to operate in “three arenas simultaneously to remove threats to Israeli civilians,” including in Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank, this week.
In Lebanon, it said the Israeli air force had killed 80 Hezbollah members and struck approximately 310 targets that it said were related to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
Hezbollah has also continued to fire into northern Israel, citing the defense of the Lebanese people.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, more than 3,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since the wider war consuming the region began in late February. More than 1 million have been displaced amid Israeli evacuation orders and strikes. Twenty-one people have died in Israel since the war with Iran began, according to officials.
An Iranian woman is among around two dozens migrants set to arrive today in the Central African Republic on a deportation flight from the United States, lawyers said, in the latest example of the Trump administration’s widely criticized deals with African and Latin American nations to take third-country deportees,
The Central African Republic, a deeply impoverished country plagued by conflict, is one of at least nine other African nations that have agreed to take third-country nationals deported by the U.S. Under a series of often-secret agreements that are part of a broad U.S. crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say.
It was unclear exactly how many migrants were on the deportation flight that left Louisiana late Thursday on the way to the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui. Among those set to be deported yesterday were people from Iran, Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Afghanistan, according to Ali Rahnama, the head of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, who has been in touch with some of the migrants.
Three Iranian women in the U.S. were originally scheduled to be sent to Central African Republic, according to Sahar Jalili Pawelski, one of their immigration lawyers, who said two of them received emergency court orders temporarily stopping their deportation while judges reviewed whether the government was acting legally.
Less than 20 miles off Iran’s shallow coastline sits an island made of hard coral — a natural, geological platform rising from the Persian Gulf that’s perfect for one thing: exporting oil.
Trump yesterday renewed threats to seize Kharg Island, which accounts for more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, after days of renewed hostilities with Iran.
While he later rowed back after saying a deal to end the war could be signed as soon as this weekend, some analysts have said previously that seizing the island could give the U.S. leverage over Iran.
Read the full story here.
Reuters
Reuters
Pictures out of Marjayoun municipality in southern Lebanon this morning show large plumes of smoke following an Israeli strike.
Questions grew this morning on the status of ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran after Trump said he canceled plans for overnight strikes on Iran as a deal to end the war was expected to be “finalized.”
Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei cast doubt on the progress yesterday, saying no “final decision” on a deal had been reached. “Reports regarding an agreement are speculative, and nothing has been finalized,” he said.
Trump’s assertions about the deal came after he vowed to hit Iran “very hard” overnight, saying Tehran had “taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them” and that “now they will have to pay the price.”
It is not the first time Trump has suggested a deal to end the war and see the Strait of Hormuz reopened could be imminent. Only a few days ago, he appeared optimistic before he ordered fresh strikes on Iran.
Oil prices fell to below $90 a barrel this morning after Trump called off plans for overnight strikes against Iran and said a peace deal was within reach.
U.S. crude oil futures for July delivery fell to $83.85 per barrel, while August futures for international benchmark Brent sank to around $86 per barrel.
It comes after Trump said he had decided not to go forward with overnight strikes against Iran, expressing optimism once again over the possibility of an imminent deal to end the war and see the Strait of Hormuz reopened.
New details on a 14-point draft memorandum being negotiated between Washington and Tehran have been revealed by Iranian media.
The draft includes “U.S. commitments to lift sanctions, withdraw its forces from areas surrounding Iran, end the maritime blockade, reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” according to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency. Oil sanctions would also be removed and Iran’s frozen assets released, the agency said,
The U.S. would be required to present a plan for rebuilding Iran’s economy, it added.
Final negotiations would focus on “nuclear and economic issues,” Mehr’s said, although President Donald Trump has vowed that any plan will block Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
NBC News could not independently verify the news agency’s reporting and Washington has yet to comment on the report.
NBC News
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