Iran denies that the agreement with the US to reopen Hormuz is already closed

BarcelonaAfter weeks of statements – in one direction and the opposite – from Donald Trump on the viability of an agreement with Iran to stop the war, this Thursday it seemed that the options for this to become a reality were closer than ever. Several media outlets, citing White House sources, have reported that the negotiating teams of the United States and Iran have reached a preliminary agreement to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and extend the ceasefire for 60 days, and that only the definitive green light from the American president was missing. Shortly thereafter, however, Tehran denied it and assured that the agreement is not yet closed, while the American vice president, J.D. Vance, stated that both sides are "very close" to an agreement, but that the understanding has not yet been reached.

The American portal Axios, which broke the news, states that the document had already received the approval of the Iranian regime.It details that the negotiating teams reached an agreement on Tuesday, although Trump asked to take a couple of days to think about it. A senior Arab official directly involved in the mediation of the peace talks also assured NBC News that the American and Iranian negotiators agreed on the terms of the agreement three days ago, but that both sides have delayed its finalization and announcement. "It was already closed in Doha three days ago," he stated, referring to Monday's meeting between the Iranian Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister of Qatar.

But in line with what has happened since the beginning of this war, at this time uncertainty and confusion remain, and both sides continue to contradict each other. The Iranian agency Tasnim, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said that the text has not yet been finalized or confirmed. The source added that Tehran has not informed the Pakistani mediator that the text was complete and that it would notify both the mediator and the general public once it is finalized, and said that reports from Western media claiming that the agreement has already been closed are false.

some details of the supposed memorandum of understandingThe British newspaper The Guardian reports that the US president has circulated a draft agreement among his allies, including Israel. The document that Trump has shared is not very different from what has been circulating in the Middle East in recent days.

Iranian state media broadcast some details of the alleged understanding agreement this Wednesday, but at that time it was the White House that rushed to deny them. Among other things, they claimed that Iran would manage, in coordination with Oman, naval transit in the Strait of Hormuz, which would return to pre-war levels within a month. Axios cites two senior US officials who have revealed that the agreement stipulates that navigation through the strait will be "unrestricted" and that Iran will not impose any tolls. In return, the US will lift the maritime blockade imposed against ships entering and leaving Iranian ports.

In recent days, the US president has added new demands that seemed to complicate the agreement, such as the condition that Gulf countries normalize relations with Israel, its historic regional rival, with the signing of the so-called Abraham Accords. Some media outlets suggest that the delay in announcing the agreement is due to this pressure, directed primarily at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In the last few hours, the White House has been increasing pressure on Oman to prevent it from joining Iran regarding the management of Hormuz. Trump said yesterday that he would "blow up" the country if it reached an agreement with Tehran, and this Thursday the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, also threatened it with sanctions. "Oman should know that the U.S. Treasury will aggressively attack any actor involved, directly or indirectly, in facilitating tolls in the strait and that any partner willing to do so will be penalized," he warned on X. Later, Bessent said he spoke with the Omani ambassador, who "assured" him that no tolls are planned for crossing the strait.

Exchange of attacks

Trump initially said he expected the war to last between four and six weeks, but it has already been three months, despite a ceasefire in effect since April 8. The temporary ceasefire, however, has not prevented the US from resuming sporadic attacks against Iran in recent days. This Thursday at dawn, the army attacked a military facility in southern Iran and shot down four attack drones that had been launched over American ships, according to Pentagon officials. Iranian state media reported three explosions east of Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian port city near the Strait of Hormuz, which was already bombed on Tuesday. In both cases, Washington has justified it as "self-defense" operations.

Iran has responded by launching an attack on an American air base in Kuwait, as reported by the Revolutionary Guard, which has assured that the target was the base from which they had been attacked. At the same time, Tehran has reported that it has blocked the passage through the Strait of Hormuz to four US vessels that attempted to "cross it without authorization," according to the official Tasnim agency. On the other hand, this morning the US Treasury Department has sanctioned the entity created by Tehran to collect a toll from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has denounced the "ceasefire violations" committed by the United States in Bandar Abbas, has expressed its solidarity with Oman, and has stated that it will take "all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty," while condemning "the threatening rhetoric of American officials."

Israel intensifies offensive in Lebanon

For the moment, the leaked information about the possible agreement does not mention anything about Israel's parallel war in Lebanon. Despite the ceasefire in force –signed between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, excluding Hezbollah–, Israel has continued to intensify the offensive in the south of the country. Around midday, the Israeli army announced that it had just bombed the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in what constitutes a new escalation of the conflict.

Israel has also announced new attacks on the city of Tyre, in the south, the day after ordering the forced evacuation of the entire population of this city. The Hebrew army, in fact, advised all residents of southern Lebanon to forcibly move above the Zahrani River, about 40 kilometers from the border, after declaring this entire area, where about 800,000 people lived before the war, a "combat zone".