American and Iranian negotiators are converging on a 14-point memorandum of understanding designed to draw a formal close to the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, according to officials briefed on the talks. The text, mediated in part by Pakistan, runs to a single page and is being shuttled between Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and a small Iranian delegation.
Under the draft proposal, Iran would commit to a 12-year moratorium on uranium enrichment and hand over its estimated 440-kilogram stockpile of material refined to 60 per cent — a level just shy of weapons grade. In return, the United States would lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports within 30 days of signature, gradually unwind sanctions and release a tranche of frozen Iranian assets.
Both sides have walked back from the brink of similar deals before. Talks broke off in late March after Iranian negotiators objected to language on inspections, and again in April when the US insisted on dismantlement rather than freeze. The current draft replaces dismantlement with a hardened verification regime under International Atomic Energy Agency oversight.
President Trump, asked about the negotiations on Friday, said the war had "a very good chance of ending" but added that if Tehran balked he would "go back to bombing the hell out of them". The remark has been read in Tehran as both a threat and an acknowledgement that he would prefer a deal.
Domestic politics complicates the timeline on both sides. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll last week found public disapproval of the war at levels comparable to peak-Iraq in 2006 and Vietnam in 1971. Trump has separately written to congressional leaders claiming "hostilities" formally ended on May 1 and that War Powers Act deadlines therefore do not apply — an interpretation Democrats reject.
In Tehran, supreme leader Ali Khamenei has not publicly endorsed the framework but has stopped short of vetoing it. Iranian state media has emphasised the lifting of sanctions and the return of frozen assets rather than the enrichment cap, suggesting the leadership is laying domestic groundwork for sign-off.
If signed, both sides would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to unrestricted commercial traffic within 30 days. The blockade has pushed Brent crude well above $90 a barrel for stretches of the spring and is the single largest near-term reason regional and Asian governments are pressing both capitals to close the deal.