A tentative package, not a signed peace
By May 28-29, US and Iranian negotiators had put a preliminary memorandum of understanding on the table to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and open talks aimed at ending the war, according to US officials quoted by the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other outlets. The framework still needed President Donald Trump’s final approval.
Trump said on May 29 he was holding a White House Situation Room meeting with advisers to make a “final determination” on moving forward, AP reported via PBS NewsHour. The confirmation came a day after AP and other outlets first described the tentative agreement.
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the sides were still arguing over “a couple of language points” and that he could not say whether Trump would approve the text.
What the draft covered
According to a US official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, the tentative agreement would:
- continue the ceasefire in the roughly three-month-old war for 60 days
- start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program
- put Iran’s highly enriched uranium among the first issues in that window
- state that Iran cannot impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz
- require Iran to remove mines from the waterway within 30 days
AP cited IAEA figures that Iran held 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, a technical step short of weapons-grade levels near 90%.
Al Jazeera, citing US sources and earlier Axios reporting, said the draft also contemplated unrestricted vessel traffic in Hormuz and a US lift of the naval blockade on Iranian ports. Details beyond those broad points remained incomplete in public accounts. It was also unclear whether the 60-day period was a hard deadline for final talks or simply an extension of an already open-ended truce.
Iranian and US red lines
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who took part in Qatar-track talks that week, posted that Iran has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, and that “no step will be taken before the other side acts.” “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles,” he wrote. “In negotiations, we only make them understand that.”
Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian outlet, cited a source close to the talks denying Western claims of an imminent finalized deal. If the text were truly final, Iran would announce it through the Pakistani mediator and to the public, the source said.
On the US side, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters it was a mistake to get ahead of the president. He restated Trump’s conditions as reopening Hormuz, giving up highly enriched uranium stockpiles, and ending the nuclear program. Bessent also publicly warned Oman against facilitating ship fees in the strait, Al Jazeera reported.
President Masoud Pezeshkian repeated that Iran is “not looking for nuclear weapons” and said Tehran would not “engage in diplomacy with humiliation,” according to Iranian media quoted by Al Jazeera.
Markets and the military backdrop
The tentative package landed after weeks of maritime pressure and intermittent Gulf skirmishes that had threatened the April 7 ceasefire. Oil prices fell on optimism about a truce extension in market coverage the same week. At sea, Iran had allowed only a fraction of normal Hormuz traffic and had experimented with tolls and a gatekeeper system, prompting new US sanctions pressure, AP reported.
Vance framed the war’s nuclear result more cautiously than some early war rhetoric. The United States, he said, could “substantially set back” Iran’s nuclear program over the long term, not only during one presidential term. He also said negotiators were trying to lock general terms on the uranium stockpile in the preliminary text, with specifics for later talks.
What this article is not
This is not a final peace treaty. As of May 29 public reporting, Trump had not announced signature, Iran had not fully owned a finalized Western text, and the hardest issues (uranium disposition, sanctions sequencing, and permanent Hormuz rules) were still live. The May 23 “largely negotiated” claim and this late-May tentative MOU are steps on the same diplomatic ladder that leads into the mid-June public 14-point memorandum.
Sources
- Associated Press via PBS NewsHour, Aamer Madhani and Michelle Price, May 29, 2026: Trump Situation Room meeting; 60-day extension; Vance language; Qalibaf posts; uranium figures; Hormuz toll/mine language
- Al Jazeera, May 28, 2026: preliminary MOU for 60-day truce extension; Trump approval still required; Hormuz traffic and blockade points; Tasnim denial; Bessent comments
- Cross-check: May 23 AP/PBS package on Trump “largely negotiated” memorandum language
