U.S. and Iran Agree in Principle to Reopen Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Official Says

The United States and Iran have agreed to a deal in principle to wind down the war in the Middle East and end the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior U.S. official said Sunday, although some of the most sensitive issues have yet to be resolved.

There was no immediate public statements from Iran about a deal being reached, and Iranian officials over the last 24 hours offered some conflicting depictions of what a potential agreement might contain. The U.S. official said Sunday that a deal had not yet been signed and was still subject to final approval from President Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, which could take days.

The senior U.S. official said the proposal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf — a critical waterway for global oil and gas — and see Iran commit to disposing of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. The mechanism by which Iran will dispose of its highly enriched uranium is still being negotiated, the official said. Mr. Trump has insisted that the United States seize the material as part of his vow to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that he had ordered his negotiators “not to rush into a deal,” after saying a day earlier that a preliminary agreement between the two countries was “largely negotiated.”

If the deal was certified, Mr. Trump said, the United States could end its blockade of Iranian ports, which it had used to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait.

Three Iranian officials said on Saturday that a potential deal stipulated only that nuclear matters would be negotiated within 30 to 60 days. Like the U.S. official, they spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive subject.

U.S. and Iranian officials said the agreement, even if reached, would be an initial framework that Sun would lead to further negotiations, rather than the last word.

The deal does not address Iran’s supply of missiles nor does it stipulate a moratorium on enrichment, the U.S. official said. Those issues would be addressed in future negotiations, the official said. In previous rounds of negotiations, the U.S. has sought at least a 20-year commitment.

For Mr. Trump, however, the deal with Iran could still offer a path to ending the turmoil wrought by the war, which began in late February when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. The conflict has killed thousands, rattled global energy markets, and been broadly unpopular among the American public.

In Israel, Mr. Trump’s announcement was received with concern. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had said the war could lead to the collapse of Iran’s Islamic Republic and an end to the Iranian nuclear threat — both of which now seem remote.

Publicly, both the American and Iranian officials emphasized the concessions they hoped to secure.

The Iranian officials said the deal Tehran had agreed to would reopen the Strait of Hormuz without any tolls; lift the U.S. naval blockade on Iran; stop the fighting on all fronts, including between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, in Lebanon; and release $25 billion in Iranian assets frozen overseas.