US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday signalled that President Donald Trump's approval of a possible deal with Iran is far from certain, amid reports that US and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a war-ending framework.
Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that negotiators have "made a lot of progress," but some points, including possible restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme, were still being discussed.
"We're going back and forth with them. We do think they're negotiating, at least so far, in good faith and we're making some progress," Vance said, adding that it was not certain that Trump would sign a potential deal.
"I think it's hard to say exactly when or if the president is going to sign the MOU [memorandum of understanding]," Vance said. "Hopefully, we'll continue to make progress and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but, obviously, that's tbd," he added, using the acronym for "to be determined."
Earlier on Thursday, the news outlet Axios had reported that US and Iranian negotiators had reached a framework agreement which would extend the ceasefire and initiate negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme. A period of 60 days is reportedly set aside for this.
US sources confirmed the substance of the report when asked.
Axios said the terms of the agreement had largely been finalized by Tuesday, but both sides still need to secure the approval of their political leadership.
However, Tasnim, a news agency close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), later reported that no preliminary agreement had been finalized or confirmed, citing a source close to the negotiating team.
