Mr. Trump vowed on Monday that the deal would either be “great and meaningful” or “there will be no deal,” after saying that his negotiators were in no rush to close the agreement. He also called on countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia to sign on to the Abraham Accords to normalize ties with Israel as part of the initial agreement — to which they are highly unlikely to agree.

Iran similarly poured cold water on hopes for an imminent deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been under an Iranian blockade that throttled global oil and gas supplies since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

“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,” Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday, according to Iran’s state broadcaster.

American and Iranian officials have presented clashing explanations of what, exactly, has been agreed upon so far, adding to doubts as to whether the deal can be concluded.

Ending the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran would allow Mr. Trump to extricate himself from an unpopular war that has battered the global economy. But the current proposal pushes 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 hobble.

Mr. Baghaei reiterated on Monday that Iran was not discussing details of its nuclear program at the moment. 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.

The U.S. official 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. Like the two diplomats, the official spoke anonymously to discuss the sensitive talks.

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.

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https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/25/world/iran-war-trump