Washington is signaling it will either strike a “good” agreement with Iran or pursue what it calls “another way,” as the Trump administration tamped down expectations of a swift breakthrough in a conflict now stretching into its third month.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would exhaust diplomatic avenues before turning to “alternatives,” a day after President Donald Trump said he had instructed his envoys not to rush into any deal with Tehran.
Rubio described what he called a serious proposal focused on restoring shipping through a key choke point and launching talks on Iran’s nuclear programme. There was a “pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait, get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US blockade on Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz would “remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed”.
He added: “Both sides must take their time and get it right.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to journalists before boarding his plane at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi
Iran’s government did not immediately respond. However, Tasnim news agency, which is linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said the United States was still blocking elements of a possible deal, including Tehran’s insistence that frozen funds be released.
Markets reacted quickly: oil prices slid 6% to two-week lows this morning as investors grew more optimistic that the United States and Iran were edging closer to a peace agreement.
Mr Trump helped fuel expectations of an imminent pact on Saturday, saying Washington and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a memorandum of understanding for a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the conflict, that vital waterway carried a fifth of global shipments of oil and liquefied natural gas.
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Even so, the negotiations remain tangled in deep disputes — Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Israel’s war in Lebanon with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, and Tehran’s demands for sanctions relief and the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues held in foreign banks.
A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered what he described as the latest outline of the talks.
The official said Iran had agreed “in principle” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the United States lifted its naval blockade, and to dispose of Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
The US believes Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has signed off on the broad framework, the official added.
Iran has not immediately confirmed the account, nor has there been clarification of what an “in principle” agreement would entail in practice.
According to the US official, the sequence envisioned by Washington would first restore passage through the strait and end the US naval blockade, while the more detailed nuclear steps would require additional time to negotiate.
The official also rejected claims that Iran had refused to dispose of its enriched uranium stockpile. “It’s a question about how,” the official said.
A second senior administration official said yesterday that the proposed framework would give negotiators 60 days to finalise an agreement.
Iranian sources had told Reuters that later stages could include “feasible formulas” to settle the dispute over the highly enriched uranium, including diluting the material under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iran has repeatedly denied US and Israeli accusations that it is seeking nuclear weapons, insisting it enriches uranium for civilian purposes — though the level of purity it has reached far exceeds what is required for power generation.
Mr Trump’s approval rating have been hurt by the war’s impact on US energy prices, and he has faced congressional efforts to restrict his war powers. He has repeatedly highlighted the prospect of a deal to end the conflict launched by the US and Israel on 28 February.
A fragile ceasefire has remained in place since early April.
The president also used social media to rebut critics of his negotiation strategy and any suggestion that he is conceding too much.
“If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one … So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” Mr Trump posted yesterday.
While a deal that strengthens the shaky ceasefire could calm markets, it would not immediately resolve a global energy crisis that has pushed up the costs of fuel, fertiliser and food.
The US-Israeli bombing of Iran killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended in early April.
Israel has also killed thousands more and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it invaded in pursuit of militant group Hezbollah. Iranian strikes on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states have killed dozens.
