Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
May 25, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: Peace Deal Could Take Days to Nail Down
Oil prices fell sharply Monday, as negotiations between the United States and Iran appeared to continue. But both sides have offered conflicting accounts of the emerging agreement.
by Aaron BoxermanTyler PagerSanam Mahoozi and Farnaz Fassihi
Negotiations between the United States and Iran appeared to be continuing on Monday after both sides played down hopes of an imminent breakthrough, and a senior U.S. official said final approval of an agreement toward ending the war could take days to finalize.
American and Iranian officials have presented contrasting descriptions of the emerging agreement, compounding doubts about whether or not the deal could get over the finish line. Both sides have said the deal could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for oil and gas shipments in the Persian Gulf that Iran has effectively blockaded.
The potential deal to end the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran would allow President Trump to extricate himself from an unpopular war that has battered the global economy. But it would come at the cost of pushing off many of the toughest issues for future rounds of talks, including the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, which Mr. Trump had promised to end when he launched the war with Israel.
On Monday, Mr. Trump said on social media that the agreement would either be “great and meaningful” or “there will be no deal,” after facing criticism from prominent Republicans that the proposal was too soft on Iran.
Earlier, Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, reiterated that Iran was not discussing details of its nuclear program. On Sunday, the senior U.S. official had told reporters that Iran had, in principle, committed to giving up stockpiles of enriched uranium that could become the basis for a nuclear weapon.
“It is true that we have reached conclusions on a large portion of the issues, but no one can claim that the signing of an agreement is imminent,” Mr. Baghaei said at a news conference, according to Iran’s state broadcaster.
The U.S. official, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told reporters that the agreement was still being finalized and would need to be approved by Mr. Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, which could take days.
News of a possible deal followed a roller-coaster few weeks, with Mr. Trump at times threatening to restart attacks on Iran, and at others saying there had been progress in last-ditch negotiations to stave off a return to full-scale war — all while offering few details. On Saturday, the president announced on social media that the two countries had “largely negotiated” a memorandum of understanding “pertaining to PEACE.”
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Market reaction: Oil prices fell sharply on Monday, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, down more than 5 percent, to about $95 per barrel. But even with the negotiations edging toward a possible peace deal, the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East could take months to return to normal. The price of oil is still some 30 percent higher than it was before the war.
Israel’s reaction: In Israel, talk of a potential deal was received with concern, with some politicians warning it would fail to constrain Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Read more ›
Lebanon: As fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah continued in Lebanon Sunday morning, it was unclear how any U.S.-Iran deal would address the fundamental issues at play in the war there. Read more
Global diplomacy: The senior leaders of Pakistan, which has been brokering the talks between the United States and Iran, visited China on Monday. China has close commercial ties with Iran and is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil. Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, met with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, who praised Pakistan’s role, according to Chinese state media.
May 25, 2026, 7:25 a.m. ET46 minutes ago
A deal with the U.S. would be preliminary and focused on ending war, an Iranian official says.
Talks between Iran and the United States have yielded agreements on many issues, but no one should expect a deal to end the war to be signed imminently, a top Iranian official said Monday.
The official, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, portrayed the emerging accord as a preliminary framework that does not go into detail on the thorniest issues.
American officials have offered a similar depiction, though both sides have presented clashing descriptions of elements of a potential deal. This has cast doubts over whether the initial understandings can be finalized.
“The focus of the negotiations is on ending the war and at this stage, there is no discussion about nuclear details,” Mr. Baghaei said in a news briefing on Monday, referring to one of the key sticking points, Iran’s nuclear program.
In some of the most extensive comments yet by a top Iranian official about the emerging deal, Mr. Baghaei told a weekly news briefing that Iran was also focused on ensuring safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil and gas shipping route.
Mr. Baghaei said the potential deal does not go into detail about how to reopen the strait to marine traffic. He suggested that Iran and the Gulf Arab state of Oman were negotiating a separate arrangement to manage the waterway, which was a transit point for one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February.
“Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, there has been no discussion of details in the understanding,” he said.
Mr. Baghaei sent a mixed message on whether Iran might still seek to charge some transit fees in the future.
“We are not seeking to collect tolls,” he said. But he added that “the services provided and the protection of the environment require the collection of fees.”
It was not immediately clear whether this contradicted the version of the deal outlined by the U.S.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any tolling system in the strait would be “unacceptable” to the United States and render an agreement “unfeasible.”
That official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss matters publicly, said the deal also committed Iran to disposing of its highly enriched uranium, although the details of how that would happen were still under negotiation.
May 25, 2026, 6:45 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday welcomed Pakistan’s role as a mediator between the United States and Iran during talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing. “China appreciates Pakistan’s proactive role,” Mr. Xi told Mr. Sharif, China’s state broadcaster reported, and said China was willing to maintain communication and coordination. China has close commercial ties with Iran, and is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.
Mr. Sharif was accompanied by Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, who was recently in Tehan to meet with Iranian leaders.
May 25, 2026, 6:37 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Jerusalem
In Israel, criticism of the potential deal between the United States and Iran is rising. Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, slammed the proposed agreement as “bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran.”
Many fear that the deal will not constrain Iran’s nuclear program, allowing the Islamic Republic a viable pathway to building a bomb. There are also worries that the proposal does not deal with Iran’s stockpiles of ballistic missiles or its support for armed groups across the Middle East.
Lapid said that if the agreement went ahead, “this will not be the last round of war.” He also fiercely criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said had lost President Trump’s confidence and been sidelined in the decision-making.
May 25, 2026, 6:28 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Jerusalem
President Trump sought to fend off criticism from Iran hawks, including some prominent Republicans, that the potential deal with Iran looks all too similar to one agreed by former president Barack Obama. “The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal,” Trump wrote on social media on Monday. He added that it would be “the exact opposite” of the deal signed during the Obama administration. Mr. Trump withdrew from the United States from the agreement during his first term in office.
May 25, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is pressing the United States and Iran to pursue “clear wording” on the security and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz in any deal, according to a regional official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. The kingdom does not want to see any new restrictions on navigation, he added.
The official said that the United States was seeking to toughen up language on Iran’s nuclear program, including how it would deal with its stockpile of enriched uranium and future enrichment. Iran was seeking “more specifics” on the unfreezing of assets and sanctions relief.
May 25, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Leo Sands and Sanam Mahoozi
Reporting from London
The Iranian foreign ministry said on Monday that the United States and Iran would not sign a deal imminently but that the two sides have reached agreement on a number of issues. The spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said at a news conference that negotiators had put off discussion of Iran’s nuclear program, the thorniest question in the talks to end the war. “The focus of the negotiations is on ending the war, and at this stage there is no discussion about nuclear details,” he said.
May 25, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from London
Oil prices fell on Monday, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, down about 4 percent, to $96 per barrel on hopes that the United States and Iran are close to agreeing a peace deal.
Yet even if an agreement is reached, analysts warned that it will take time for oil shipments to return to prewar levels after being throttled for months because of Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The price of oil is still about 30 percent higher than it was before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, and the resumption of shipping as well as repairs to damaged oil production facilities could take months. “Prices are not going to drop quickly,” said Carl Weinberg, the chief economist of High Frequency Economics.
May 25, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from New Delhi
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, while on a visit to India, that the United States might have news to announce about the talks with Iran “maybe today” after the two sides failed to reach a deal on Sunday.
“We have what I think is a pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the straits, get the straits open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter,” he said.