Welcome to our live updates of US politics including the conflict in Iran.
US President Donald Trump said he’s a “solid 50/50” on whether to forge a peace agreement with Iran or restart the war and “blow them to kingdom come”.
Mr Trump said he would likely make a decision by May 24 as he prepared to meet negotiators Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to talk over Iran’s latest response to the US peace proposal, Axios reported.
Negotiators from Pakistan and Qatar visited Tehran on Friday in hopes of reaching an agreement.
Iran meanwhile claimed it is finalising a 14-point framework for a deal with the US, signalling some convergence in positions while cautioning that major gaps still remain.
“Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state television on Saturday.
He pointed to what he described as “a trend towards rapprochement” with Washington, but added that “it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues”.
Mr Baqaei said he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out “within a reasonable time frame between 30 to 60 days” after the framework is finalised.
The remarks followed a visit to Iran by Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, who has been acting as a mediator between Tehran and Washington in efforts aimed at ending the war.
The conflict broke out on February 28 with Israeli-US strikes that killed senior Iranian leaders including supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region. Since a fragile ceasefire took effect on April 8, the two sides have held a single round of talks that failed to culminate in a deal and have since exchanged proposals aimed at ending the conflict.
Read on for more updates.
