US-Iran deal may include ceasefire extension, reopening Hormuz: media

China

US-Iran deal may include ceasefire extension, reopening Hormuz: media

2026-05-24 17:08 Last Updated At：22:07

A proposed agreement the United States and Iran are close to signing involves a 60-day ceasefire extension during which the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran would be able to freely sell oil, and negotiations would be held on curbing Iran's nuclear program, Axios quoted a U.S. official as saying on Saturday.

One key element of the proposed agreement between Iran and the United States is an apparent commitment by Tehran to giving up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to two U.S. officials, the New York Times reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Saturday Iran and the United States are working to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ending the war.

"At this stage, our focus is on ending the imposed war," Baghaei told state-run IRIB news agency, adding that Iran's nuclear issue is not a focus of the peace talks at this stage.

"Our intention has been to firstly agree on a MoU consisting of 14 clauses," Baghaei said, noting that "within a period of 30 to 60 days", they would "reach a final agreement".

U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier in the day that a peace agreement with Iran has been "largely negotiated", subject to finalization between the United States, Iran and other relevant countries in the Middle East.

As part of the agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Final aspects and details of the deal are being discussed and will be announced shortly, he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday "we merely seek to safeguard our people's legal and legitimate rights, but our history and experience of negotiating with the United States urge us to exercise utmost caution".

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Saturday that Iran insists on not discussing its nuclear program at this stage, releasing its frozen assets prior to negotiations, and continuing its control and management over the Strait of Hormuz, citing an informed source close to the Iranian negotiating team.

No negotiation will take place if the three remaining serious issues of disagreement are not resolved, it reported.

Iran, the United States and Israel reached a ceasefire on April 8 after 40 days of fighting that started with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

Following the truce, Iranian and U.S. delegations held one round of peace talks in Pakistan's Islamabad on April 11 and 12, which failed to yield an agreement.

Over the past weeks, the two sides have reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for ending the conflict through Pakistani mediation.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.