U.S. President Donald Trump ended a roughly two-hour Situation Room meeting on Friday without deciding whether to approve a new deal with Iran, a senior administration official told the New York Times, even as Washington believes an agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire is close.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several issues remain unresolved, including the possible unfreezing of Iranian funds.
Trump had earlier said he would meet with advisers to make a “final determination” on a proposed deal that would extend the ceasefire by 60 days and open new talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. The emerging memorandum of understanding still requires approval from Trump and Iran’s top leadership.
The president said any deal would require Iran to pledge that it would never develop a nuclear weapon, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to unrestricted traffic, remove remaining sea mines and allow the United States, in coordination with Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, to remove and destroy highly enriched uranium.
“Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb. The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He also said the U.S. naval blockade on Iran would be lifted, but that no money would be exchanged “until further notice.”
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday night that there was a tentative agreement, though it remained unclear whether Trump would approve it.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vance told reporters. “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”
Iran has not confirmed a final deal and has disputed key parts of Trump’s account. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that a political understanding over the war had been reached but had not yet been finalized.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, citing sources, said Trump’s comments contained a “mixture of truth and falsehood” and called them an “attempt to portray a fabricated victory.” According to Fars, Hormuz would reopen only after the U.S. lifted its blockade on Iranian ships and under arrangements set by Tehran. The agency also said the memorandum did not include the destruction of Iran’s nuclear material, while claiming there was agreement on releasing $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
Tasnim, another Iranian outlet aligned with the regime, said Trump’s statement should be treated with skepticism and reflected what it described as his usual pattern of one-sided remarks. It said lifting the U.S. blockade, if implemented, would merely end what Tehran considers a ceasefire violation.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, citing an Iranian source, reported that disagreements remained on several issues. The source said there was broad understanding on Hormuz and Lebanon, but described Trump’s claim about removing enriched uranium as “wishful thinking.”
Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei accused Trump and Netanyahu of seeking to topple Iran in order to impose a new regional order. He said Iran would force the U.S. to end the naval blockade, either through negotiations or direct action, and warned that if the blockade continued beyond a certain point, Iran would attack and “break it.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking with his Omani counterpart, said reaching a final agreement depended on a change in Washington’s approach. He criticized what he called excessive U.S. demands and shifting American positions.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also met Friday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, whose country has emerged as a key mediator in the talks.
The diplomatic push comes as the ceasefire remains fragile and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil and gas supplies, has yet to return to normal.