The US and Iran have reached an agreement in principle to extend their ceasefire and begin negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme, a US official told The Telegraph.
But the framework for a memorandum of understanding must still be signed off by Donald Trump, which could take days, the official added.
The agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and require Iran to remove its mines from the crucial shipping lane within 30 days.
It would see the US waive some sanctions to allow Iran to sell its oil, but Tehran would have to put in writing a commitment not to develop a nuclear weapon.
JD Vance, the vice president, said good progress had been made towards a ceasefire extension, but Mr Trump was not yet ready to approve it.
“We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points. We’ve made a lot of progress here,” he told reporters.
“Hopefully, we’ll continue to make progress and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously that’s still TBD (to be determined).”
While the US was buoyant about the potential agreement, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency was more cautious.
“Iran has not yet informed the Pakistani mediator of the finalisation of the text. If the text is truly finalised, Iran will announce the matter to the Pakistani mediator and to the public,” an Iranian source said.