Iran war: Rubio says ‘significant progress’ made in talks as details of potential deal emerge – follow live

Image source, Reuters

As Marco Rubio says “significant progress” has been made on a possible Iran deal, here’s a reminder of how negotiations have played out in recent weeks.

8 April: Pakistan, acting as mediator, announces a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, initially due to end on 22 April.

Trump says the deal is agreed on the condition that the Strait of Hormuz reopens. Pakistan says Lebanon is included. Iran agrees, but the US and Israel dispute this.

11 April: Senior US and Iranian officials, including Vice-President JD Vance and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meet in Pakistan. After 21 hours of back and forth, Washington and Tehran remain far apart on key sticking points.

12 April: Trump announces a blockade of Iranian shipping as Iran continues its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after the failure of the Islamabad talks.

21 April: Trump agrees to extend the ceasefire for an unspecified time so negotiations can continue.

5 May: Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that “Operation Epic Fury” – the name given to the initial US-Israeli offensive against Iran – is finished.

8 May: Trump says the US-Iran ceasefire is still in place despite a clash between Iran and US naval destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz for which both sides blamed the other.

10 May: Iran is reported to have sent a counter peace proposal to the US, including an immediate end to the war on all fronts and an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. The US dismisses the plan as “totally unacceptable”

15 May: The US president says he would accept a 20-year suspension by Iran to its nuclear programme.

18 May: Trump announces on Truth Social he has called off a new attack on Iran at the request of Gulf states, adding that the US was ready to “go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if there was no acceptable deal.

23 May: Trump says an Iran deal has been “largely negotiated” and will include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says the US and Iranian positions have been converging over the past week, but warns it does not mean key issues will be resolved.

24 May: Speaking from a press conference in New Delhi, Rubio says “significant progress” but not “final progress” has been made on a deal, hinting at further announcements later in the day.