Iran War Live Updates: Peace Deal Could Take Days to Nail Down

A day earlier, Esmail Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said that Washington and Tehran were in the “final stage” of drafting a memorandum of understanding and “may be able to reach a mutually acceptable solution.” Neither Iran’s leaders nor official state media have publicly commented on the substance of any potential agreement.

Here’s what to know.

What has the U.S. said?

In his post on social media on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Trump insisted that any deal he might make with Iran would be “a good and proper one,” though he provided no details and made it clear much was unresolved.

The U.S. official speaking to reporters on Sunday said the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — a critical waterway that has been effectively blockaded by Iran amid the war — would not inaugurate any tolls for passage, as Iranian officials have advocated.

Reopening the strait would alleviate economic pressure on the global economy, reassure the markets and create space to address the nuclear issues, the official said, without offering a timeline for how long the United States would allow for a deal on the nuclear issues.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview from India on Sunday, signaled that the Trump administration was prepared to accept an interim agreement that didn’t immediately take away Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons.

“You can’t do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin,” Mr. Rubio said.

At this stage, the United States is not offering to unfreeze any Iranian assets, but the U.S. official who briefed reporters said that the Americans have made clear they are willing to begin that process if Iran gives up its highly enriched uranium. “No dust, no dollars,” the official said, a reference to “nuclear dust,” Mr. Trump’s term for Iran’s uranium.

In April, the United States began a blockade on Iranian ports and Iranian-linked ships globally. Mr. Trump said in a post on social media on Sunday morning that it “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

What has Iran said?

Iran has not formally responded to Mr. Trump’s comments. But three senior Iranian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so publicly, said on Saturday that Tehran had agreed to a memorandum of understanding that would stop the fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, where Israel is fighting with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group; reopen the Strait of Hormuz without any tolls; lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iran; and release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

It was unclear whether the proposal described by the Iranian officials was the same one Mr. Trump was referring to in his posts on Sunday or that the U.S. official was discussing with reporters on Sunday.

The Iranian officials told The New York Times that the proposal said nothing about the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, only that a plan for dealing with the country’s highly enriched uranium would be negotiated within 30 to 60 days.

What still needs to be addressed?

The potential interim agreement appears to leave some of the thorniest questions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program unresolved.

Chief among these is how Iran would dispose of its highly enriched uranium and the length of any potential moratorium on enrichment. Iran possesses a stockpile of about 970 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.S. official on Sunday said that these issues would be addressed in future negotiations.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated during the Obama administration, Iran turned most of its stockpile over to Russia, an arrangement that could serve as a model again. Another possibility would involve diluting the uranium to lower enrichment levels that could not be made into a nuclear weapon.

The United States has in previous rounds of negotiations sought at least a 20-year moratorium on enrichment. Iran has proposed a far shorter timeline. The American official said on Sunday that the precise timeline mattered less than the mechanism by which the restrictions were enforced.

The deal under discussion now also does not address Iran’s missile stockpile, the U.S. official said. That is a critical issue to the Israelis, who are within reach of many of Iran’s ballistic missiles.

What has been the reaction?

Some Republicans and Iran hawks have denounced the potential agreement.

“It doesn’t make too much sense to me,” Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Mr. Tillis called the Iranians’ commitment to reopening the Strait of Hormuz “questionable” without a finalized peace deal. “There are a lot of things that need to be explained,” he said.

On Saturday, Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on social media that a “60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, whose country joined the U.S. attack that started the war in late February, said in a statement on Sunday evening that he discussed the potential agreement with Mr. Trump on a call on Saturday night and that they both agreed Iran could not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. He also said that Mr. Trump had affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, including in Lebanon.

Still, Mr. Netanyahu’s statement came about 18 hours after Mr. Trump announced the unfolding deal. Analysts said the long silence reflected concerns inside Israel that this agreement could ultimately fall far short of its aims of shutting down Iran’s nuclear program and curbing its missile capabilities. Clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have strained the cease-fire with Iran since it was announced in April.

The leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, in a speech on Sunday, expressed hope that a cease-fire agreement between Iran and the United States would include the group, but framed any potential agreement as proof of Iran’s victory. “Iran has managed to humiliate America,” he said.

Some Senate Democrats who were critical of Mr. Trump’s vague proposal expressed a similar sentiment. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said on CNN that the president was “being played as a fool.”

Mr. Trump shot back at critics on social media on Sunday afternoon, calling them “losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.”

“Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago,” he said. “I don’t make bad deals!”