Peace Deal With Iran Closer Than Ever, White House Says

A senior Trump administration official on Friday outlined the framework of a possible short-term agreement between the United States and Iran, a deal that could open the door to formal negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

Speaking with reporters Friday afternoon, the senior official said the proposed agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the U.S. naval blockade, and set Iran on a path toward dismantling its nuclear program.

According to the official, the framework “leads to the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program,” “leads to the United States getting the enriched [nuclear] material,” and ensures that the material would be destroyed and removed from Iran.

The official also said the agreement would include “an inspection regime that makes sure that this is a long-term commitment and that it’s long-term enforceable.”

If realized, the proposal would mark a dramatic departure from the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement, which President Donald Trump rejected during his first term. Trump has long argued that any deal with Tehran must be enforceable, verifiable, and rooted in American strength rather than diplomatic wishful thinking.

Under the proposed arrangement, Iran would not receive sanctions relief or financial benefits upfront. Instead, senior administration officials said economic rewards would come only if Tehran meets its obligations.

“If they comply, they’re going to be relieved of a lot of the economic pressures that they’ve been under for many, many years, so they do get reintegrated into the world economy,” said the administration official, who was not identified.

The official made clear that Iran would not be paid simply for coming to the table.

“The Iranians don’t get anything upon the signing of the MOU or upon the negotiation itself, what they get is that they get rewarded economically for complying with their obligations under the deal,” the officials said.

The official declined to specify the size or scope of any potential economic relief, according to ABC News.

The proposed framework would reportedly include a 60-day period for further technical negotiations on unresolved issues. Those details remain highly sensitive, with Washington and Tehran often giving sharply different accounts of what has been discussed and what each side is prepared to accept.

The talks are further complicated by Iran’s internal power struggles. American negotiators are dealing not with a unified government, but with a fractured regime where hardliners, military leaders, clerics, and civilian officials may not all be moving in the same direction.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed confidence that a deal can be reached, even as the fragile ceasefire has been tested by military strikes, hostile rhetoric, and threats from both governments.

A senior administration official said there is reason to believe Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has approved the framework of a possible agreement. However, the official cautioned that U.S. officials have not independently verified that claim and cannot say with certainty that final authorization has been granted, ABC News reported.

“Really, all we can take is the people, both on the civilian and military side, both of whom have attested that the supreme leader is comfortable with where we are in the negotiation,” the senior administration official said.

“Obviously, in their system, they can’t do anything without the sign-off of the supreme leader, ultimately,” the official continued.

The official said many of the Iranian figures involved in the negotiations — including those with some degree of authority inside the regime — appear interested in finalizing the agreement.

Still, the official acknowledged that opposition remains inside Iran’s ruling structure, where regime factions are jockeying to shape how the potential deal is presented domestically.

“The Iranian hardliners, some of them want to kill the deal, but I think most of them actually want the deal, but they also want to message it to their internal audiences in a way that maximizes their upside and minimizes our upside,” the senior administration official said, per ABC News.

The official estimated there is an 80 to 85 percent chance that the memorandum of understanding will be signed in the near future.

Iran’s foreign minister also signaled Friday that the two sides may be approaching a breakthrough, saying a memorandum of understanding “has never been closer.”

For the Trump administration, the potential agreement represents a high-stakes test of whether maximum pressure, military deterrence, and hardline diplomacy can produce what the Obama administration failed to secure: the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear threat under strict American-backed enforcement.