Overview
- Senior U.S. and Iranian officials on Friday signalled a memorandum of understanding to pause hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz is near completion, but both sides publicly dispute what the text contains.
- Iranian state outlets published a detailed leaked 14-point draft that would lift oil sanctions, release billions in frozen assets and allow Iran a role in Hormuz traffic, a version Tehran describes as close to final.
- The White House has rejected the Iranian account and described a performance-based plan that conditions any fund releases on verified destruction, removal or dismantling of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile.
- Pakistan and Gulf intermediaries are mediating final steps and have said a final text exists, yet the naval blockade remains in place and President Trump paused planned larger strikes while talks continue.
- The biggest technical impasse is verification of roughly 400 kg of near-60% enriched uranium and who controls shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, issues that will shape whether frozen assets are released and how a lasting settlement is enforced.