Overview
- Reports on Saturday, May 23 say Pakistani mediators produced a near‑final nine‑point draft that would impose an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and commit both sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- The draft reportedly offers phased U.S. sanctions relief and a timetable to resume talks but does not resolve the core dispute over Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
- Iranian officials have both denied and downplayed media claims about new orders from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on retaining uranium, leaving the nuclear question the main barrier to a signed deal.
- President Donald Trump has been briefed on military options to resume attacks and told Axios the choice between accepting a deal or ordering strikes is roughly "fifty‑fifty," with a decision expected imminently.
- Gulf states have pressed for a settlement to reopen trade routes and ease economic pain, while NATO ministers signaled transatlantic strains that are accelerating talk of greater European defence burden‑sharing if U.S. support falters.