Tensions spanning the Persian Gulf have taken a tentative turn toward diplomacy, after negotiators from the United States and Iran hammered out a preliminary agreement to extend an existing bilateral ceasefire for 60 days. The deal, crafted to create a window for talks on a permanent end to hostilities, still requires formal sign-off from both US President Donald Trump and Iran’s supreme leadership, the White House has confirmed.
The breakthrough comes at a moment of rapidly escalating friction between the two nations, as the current ceasefire framework collapsed into open conflict in recent days. The US launched a series of airstrikes targeting Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, prompting Tehran to retaliate with a missile strike against a US military installation based in Kuwait.
If finalized, the 60-day truce is expected to clear the way for negotiations on deeply divisive core issues that have strained US-Iran relations for decades, including Iran’s civilian nuclear program and the rollback of crippling US economic sanctions. According to reporting from Axios, the tentative agreement includes specific security provisions for the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical global energy chokepoints. Under the terms, Iran would guarantee unimpeded, toll-free passage for all commercial shipping through the strait and clear all naval mines from the waterway within 30 days of the ceasefire taking effect.
The question of transit fees for the Strait of Hormuz has already sparked sharp pushback from US leadership. Iran had previously pushed to impose a transit charge on ships passing through the waterway, holding preliminary discussions on the proposal with Oman, which shares territorial water boundaries with Iran in the strait. During a press briefing Wednesday, Trump issued an explicit threat against Oman if it backed the Iranian proposal, insisting the strait must remain open to all global traffic as international waters. “No, the strait is going to be open to everybody,” Trump stated. “It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up.” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down on this threat Thursday, announcing the US would “aggressively target” Oman if it assisted Iran in implementing a toll system for the strait.
Additional terms of the draft ceasefire include a gradual lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, with the easing of restrictions tied directly to verified increases in restored commercial shipping activity out of Iranian terminals. The memorandum of understanding also includes a preliminary Iranian commitment not to pursue the development of nuclear weapons, with the disposal of Iran’s existing stockpiles of enriched uranium set to be one of the first topics addressed during expanded negotiations.
Tehran has long made sanctions relief and the unlocking of billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen overseas core demands for any long-term agreement. Per Axios’ reporting, the tentative 60-day truce commits US negotiators to open formal discussions on both of these demands during the ceasefire period. The draft framework also includes provisions to negotiate a formal mechanism that would allow Iran to receive essential commercial goods and humanitarian aid from the international community.
Aaron David Miller, a veteran former US State Department negotiator with decades of experience working on Middle East diplomacy, framed the tentative deal as a small first step rather than a breakthrough, writing on social platform X that the agreement amounts to “a ticket to a negotiation – a letter of intent – if you will – to negotiations on all core issues.” He cautioned that the coming talks would be fraught with difficulty, adding, “Get ready for painful negotiations that will feel like daily root canals and migraine headaches.”