US, Iran and mediators discuss terms for a 45-day ceasefire

[Twiglets1]

As reported by Axios, the U.S., Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing the terms for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war, according to four U.S., Israeli and regional sources with knowledge of the talks.

Four sources with knowledge of the diplomatic efforts said the negotiations are taking place through Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators and also through text messages sent between Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

• A U.S. official said the Trump administration gave Iran several proposals in recent days, but so far Iranian officials hadn't accepted them.
• The sources said the mediators are discussing with the parties the terms for two-phased deal; the first phase would a potential 45-day ceasefire during which a permanent end to the war would be negotiated.
• The ceasefire could be extended if more time were needed for talks, one of the sources said.
• The second phase would be an agreement on ending the war.
• The sources said mediators think that fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a solution for Iran's highly enriched Uranium — either through its removal from the country or dilution — could only be a result of a final deal.
• These two issues are Iran's main bargaining chips in the negotiations and the Iranians will not agree to fully give up on them for only 45 days of ceasefire, two of the sources said.
• The mediators want to see whether Iran could take partial step on both issues in the first phase of the deal. They are also working on steps the Trump administration could take to give Iran guarantees that the ceasefire will not be temporary and that the war will not resume.

www.axios.com/2026/04/06/iran-war-us-tehran-ceasefire-talks

Trump made a statement last night that a deal with Iran was largely negoitated.

Iran denied this

At a pressconference in New Delhi, Rubio had to roll back on Trump's statement with

“I think we've made some progress."

Rubio says the US main aim now is to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

This wasn't even an issue 3 months ago

It is now actually harming the US economy too.

Yes it is harming both the Iran economy and the US economy and others too.

Rubio told reporters in New Delhi that significant progress has been made and that updates will come out later today.

Both sides have mentioned a potential memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and the US which - according to the report by Tasnim news agency today - includes an end of the war on all fronts.

This includes Israel's attacks in Lebanon, and that Washington would also commit to waiving sanctions on Iran's oil during negotiations.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/us-israel-iran-war/iran-says-potential-memorandum-with-us-includes-end-of-war-on-all-fronts-tasnim/3947211

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also described a "memorandum of understanding", telling state television on Saturday that Iran's intention was to reach an agreement "in the form of a framework, consisting of 14 points".

Baghaei said Tehran was in the process of finalising the memorandum, so further talks could be held within 30 to 60 days "and ultimately a final agreement can be reached".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crmp121z3z8o

Basically a watered down JCPOA?

Maybe - we don't know the details yet and probably won't for a few months as it sounds like things will be done in stages. So we can't make that judgement until we see the final deal agreed and whether it works in practice.

Epic Fury, or Epic Waste of Time and Money and Lives?

I think it was always obvious it was going to be the latter.

It’s also going to take the gulf states a long time to recover. Which has a serious knock on effect on the subcontinent. The whole thing has been a disaster.

That's an appropriate way to describe Iran since the IRGC took charge - how much money wasted/lives lost due to their commitment to trying and failing to destroy Israel via their proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Epic waste of time and money and lives indeed.

As for the war in Iran, we don't know the outcome yet but it won't be as bad for the US as the Hamas war in Gaza was on Palestinians.

Looking at the wider picture though, what has this achieved? Bugger all.

A younger and even more conservative IRGC is in charge now.

Please do share the information you have on the final agreement that has been drawn up by the US and Iran because I wasn't aware it had been published.

So? The ones that have been killed weren't exactly reasonable types were they. They were the ones that funded Hamas & Hezbollah and encouraged uprisings against Israel that culminated in 7/10/23.

So?

It will make Iranian people's lives even more difficult.

I haven't seen any evidence that the new regime will make Iranian lives more difficult than the old regime - weren't they the ones that killed thousands of their own people in January just for protesting?

It would make Israel people's lives more difficult if Iran was allowed to develop nuclear bombs, no?

Clearly I don’t have the terms and agreements. Don’t be silly.

I’ll tell you what I know this war has achieved. Massive job losses in the gulf states for the migrant workers, which means none of their salaries are being sent home. Which in turn makes lives for hundreds of thousand people a lot worse.

People deported from the gulf states because of their surname. Not because they have anything to do with Iran. Just due to paranoia. Which will have the same knock on as I mentioned above.

Kids out of school for 7 weeks. A levels/ GCSE/IDB exams cancelled for those taking them. Kids showing signs of PTSD to the extent that they wet themselves, or vomit when they hear a bang. Kids not allowed to play outside in school breaks because of the threat of drones or missiles.

And yet we still have Iran and the IRGC in charge. Who have even less reasons to like the USA and Israel. You still have Israel which want the USA to get rid of Iran. And you have a whole load of people caught up in the middle who have nothing to do with this but are massively impacted by it. So, now what?

@Twiglets1 that's why the JPCOA was negotiated

Trump's war has made things worse not better.

And I’m pretty sure we were all told that the threat of Iran making a nuclear missile were obliterated in the previous 6 day war, and yet here we are again.

I suspect there will be nothing in any one page framework agreement that will exceed what was accomplished under the imperfect-but-better-than-what-came-before JCPOA.

And we should take it as read that there is a big distance between a one page framework agreement and a final draft agreement. That could be months if not years away and no doubt there will be multiple threats between the countries along the way.

The damage to the wider world isnt fully felt yet and it will take months for supply lines and infrastructure just to get back to where they were.

And yet people cheered it on thinking it was a good idea.

Well done Donald.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency says that under draft terms of the US-Iran negotiations, the Strait of Hormuz "will not return" to pre-war status, but adds that ship traffic will return to previous levels

I know! I was just 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

No point people going on continuously about the JPCOA.

Even if the new agreement doesn't turn out to be any better -which we don't know at the moment - it's in the past and long gone so it's just moaning for no purpose to keep going on about it.

I can't believe I really need to explain this but the one page framework agreement will just be the start, not the end product. So comparing a one page agreement to the JCPOA when it was a fully formed document is as pointless as to keep harping on about the JCPOA, which seems perfect in memory but was not perfect in execution.