US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and start new nuclear talks

WASHINGTON — U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran's nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it. "It's hard to say exactly when or if the president's going to sign," Vance told reporters. He added: "We're going back and forth on a couple of language points." The emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering. The latest flare-up in fighting happened less than a day earlier, when Kuwait intercepted missiles fired from Iran, according to U.S. Central Command. Proposal addresses Strait of Hormuz The memorandum makes clear that Iran will not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran will have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. During the war, Iran has effectively closed the strait, which had been the conduit for about a fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas. Its closure has sent oil prices skyrocketing around the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted Thursday at a news briefing that the cost of oil could "come down very quickly" once a deal is finalized. Iran has said it's letting some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war — but the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships. It set up a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week. Under the tentative agreement, the U.S. would gradually lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil. Yet even as word of the potential deal emerged, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military's oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration's economic pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic. Details of the tentative pact were first reported by the news outlet Axios. Nuclear issue remains unresolved Among the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day ceasefire is what will happen to Iran's highly enriched uranium, the first official said. The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Vance said Thursday evening though suggested that negotiators were trying to strike general terms on the highly enriched uranium settled in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks. Vance said the continued back and forth involved "a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment." Iran has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It is believed to buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. airstrikes last year. Nuclear analysts have said that Iran might consider China or Russia, which have close relations with Tehran, to be a potential acceptable third party to take possession of the enriched uranium. But Trump said Wednesday that he "wouldn't be comfortable" with such a plan. Though Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that one of their prime objectives was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, Vance framed the war's accomplishments as something far less definitive. "We're in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term," Vance said. "That's a very very good thing for the American people." Iran, which has long maintained its program is peaceful, has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel's military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre. At least 14 people were killed across the country's south. Kuwait reports an attack Kuwait announced that its air-defense systems intercepted incoming missiles and drones on Thursday, without detailing what had been targeted. Iran said it had retaliated for strikes earlier in the week by firing on a U.S. base in a Gulf state it did not name. The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry condemned Iran for what it called "blatant aggression," and U.S. Central Command called the attack on one of America's top allies in the Persian Gulf an "egregious ceasefire violation." Kuwait repeatedly came under fire from Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq before the April ceasefire began. The exchange took place after U.S. officials said late Wednesday that American forces launched more strikes on Iran, shooting down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait and hitting an Iranian ground-control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged the attack around Bandar Abbas International Airport and said via the state-run IRNA news agency that it launched a retaliatory attack on the air base that launched the assaults. The Revolutionary Guard did not specify whether the response targeted Kuwait, which houses U.S. Army Central's forward headquarters, air bases and a naval base. On Monday, the U.S. said it conducted what the Pentagon called "self-defense" strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran. Although they have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations, Washington and Tehran have not returned to full-scale hostilities and keep negotiating. Vance said that, "Ceasefires are always a little messy" but it's "very much holding." Later Thursday, Iran's defenses destroyed "a hostile aircraft" around the southern city of Jam, the area's governor, Masood Tangestani, told state broadcaster IRIB. No other information was immediately available. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matthew Lee in Washington and Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.