BBC:
Iran says some progress has been reached in talks with the US, but a deal “is not imminent”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai’s remarks came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an agreement could possibly be reached on Monday.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” Baqai said in Tehran on Monday. “But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent – no-one can make such a claim.”
The memorandum of understanding reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a plan for further negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.
At the weekend, President Donald Trump suggested the sides were closing a deal, even though he later said he had instructed negotiators “not to rush into” one.
On Monday, Rubio told reporters in the Indian capital, Delhi: “We thought we might have some news last night. Maybe today.”
Cautioning “I wouldn’t read too much into it”, Rubio said: “It takes a little while to hear back from Iran.”
CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, has reported that US intelligence believes Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – who was injured in an Israeli strike on the first day of the war which killed his father and predecessor – is holed up in an undisclosed location, making communication with his envoys difficult and therefore delaying pace of talks with the US.
According to US media, the mooted deal is not a final settlement – instead it leaves some of the thorniest issues to be negotiated later, including the scope and timing of Iranian sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and Washington’s demands for Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.
“So we have, what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the Straits,” he said referring to the Strait of Hormuz – the crucial waterway where 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes and which Iran has been blocking.
Oil prices fell sharply and Asian stock markets rose on Monday on hopes of an agreement.
