THE WASHINGTON POST: US, Iran agree to tentative deal to end war and reopen Strait of Hormuz

The United States and Iran have reached a tentative agreement to end their months-long war in the Middle East, senior officials on both sides said Thursday, but it comes with the major caveat that President Donald Trump and his counterparts in Tehran are reviewing it.

Senior US officials acknowledged the framework deal following a night in which US and Iranian forces exchanged drone and missile fire in the region, highlighting the shaky nature of the ceasefire that was declared in April.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House that the tentative agreement is “multi-faceted” and awaiting Trump’s potential approval.

“He has several red lines,” Mr Bessent said of the President’s review, later adding: “He’s not going to take a bad deal.”

Mr Bessent said that “nothing is going to be on the table” until Iranian officials first agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil flows out of the Middle East and into the global economy.

The Iranians also must agree to turn over their highly enriched uranium and cannot have a nuclear program, Mr Bessent said, points of contention that have scuttled provisional agreements thus far.

Mr Bessent also said earlier in the day that the US was continuing its efforts to squeeze the Iranian regime financially, preventing its military from being paid and leading to police officers not reporting to work.

He added that as the US Navy continues a maritime blockade that has drastically reduced the amount of Iranian crude oil going to market, the administration will be moving to shut down access for Iran’s airlines to landing spots, refuelling and ticket sales.

“Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral,” Mr Bessent said.

The potential deal was first reported by Axios.

Overnight, US forces struck an Iranian launch site in Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz after shooting down five Iranian one-way attack drones, according to US Central Command, which oversees operations in the region.

US military officials said that the drones posed a threat to shipping in the strait and that Iran had been ready to launch a sixth.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday morning that it retaliated by firing at a US air base in Kuwait, where it said the attack on Bandar Abbas had originated.

It was not immediately clear which US base was targeted in Kuwait, which hosts a significant US military presence.

Central Command said Thursday that Kuwaiti forces successfully intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile and condemned the action by Tehran.

“US Central Command and regional partners remain vigilant and measured as we continue to defend our forces and interests from unjustified Iranian aggression,” military officials said in a statement.

A US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, described the US actions as “measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire.”

The IRGC, meanwhile, accused the US of firing first and threatened escalation if Iran is attacked again.

“This response is a serious warning so that the enemy knows aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC said in a statement Thursday morning.

“If repeated, our response will be more decisive. Responsibility for the consequences lies with the aggressor.”

The military action further strained a shaky ceasefire after the two sides exchanged fire earlier this week. US forces on Monday hit Iranian missile launch sites and boats that US officials said were laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Negotiations have been snarled by disagreements over Iran’s stocks of enriched uranium and its nuclear program.

Iran is demanding sanctions relief and the release of billions of dollars in frozen sovereign funds.

Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti news agency in an interview published Thursday that “Iran’s assets must be returned to Iran in full and unconditionally.”

Asked about the frozen assets Wednesday, Trump said: “We have control of money that they claim is theirs. We’ll keep control of that money. When they behave properly, and then they do what’s right, we’ll let them have their money. But right now, we’re not doing that.”

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump expressed confidence that he had maximum negotiating power with Iran and did not feel pressure to make a deal.

“We’ve been doing this for a few months. Vietnam lasted 19 years. Korea lasted eight years. Afghanistan lasted many years,” Trump said when asked about the time frame for ending the war. Earlier in the meeting, he said, “They were all many, many years. And we’re into it for a few months.”

Referencing such long, unpopular foreign wars may not necessarily help Trump, who is facing rising discontent among Americans, including over high gasoline prices, less than six months before the midterm elections.

Trump’s attempts to close a deal with Iran also appear to be complicated by his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pushed for further strikes.

Earlier this week, the President demanded that several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, normalise relations with Israel in what appeared to be an attempt to hand Netanyahu a major diplomatic victory in exchange for wrapping up hostilities.

Several of these US allies have so far played down the prospect of joining the diplomatic treaties with Israel known as the Abraham Accords.

Continued fighting between Israel, America’s partner against Iran, and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, have also affected efforts to reach a comprehensive deal.

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday it had carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut. The commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit, Ali al-Husseini, was the target, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel also struck several locations across southern Lebanon, including the port city of Sidon, an area not under Israeli evacuation warnings.

The IDF on Wednesday had told residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate beyond the Zahrani River, effectively expanding the area that it deems “combat zones” to 15 per cent of Lebanon’s territory.

On Thursday, a day after Hezbollah killed an IDF soldier in northern Israel, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed to 24, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to intensify strikes against Hezbollah, stating: “For every drone that hits one of our soldiers, 100 buildings must be taken down.”

Three people were killed, a women and two children, and 15 injured, in a strike on a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Thursday.

Military officials from Israel and Lebanon are scheduled to meet at the Pentagon on Friday under US supervision, with a separate round of political talks set for next week, an Israeli official told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.

In the absence of a comprehensive deal with Iran, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in recent months has caused a global spike in the price of oil and significantly driven up gasoline prices in the United States.

The Trump administration has expressed fury at Iran’s proposal to collect tolls for tankers passing through the strait, and this week Trump threatened to “blow up” Oman, a US ally and key mediator with Tehran, following reports that the Persian Gulf nation was in talks with Iran to jointly charge tolls.

While calling for the strait to be reopened, Trump declared Wednesday that the US has so much of its own oil that “we don’t . . . need the strait. We don’t need anything.”

Trump said Iran was making a mistake by thinking “they were going to outwait me” because he would be under political pressure from this year’s elections.

“I don’t care about the midterms,” he said.