Trump puts off ‘final determination’ on Iran proposal

President Donald Trump left a two-hour meeting on a possible deal with Iran without making a decision, a senior administration official said Friday, despite suggesting on social media that he had intended “to make a final determination” during the gathering in the White House Situation Room.

It was not clear why Trump did not reach a decision. The president had insisted in a Truth Social post before the meeting that a deal extending the ceasefire would involve Iran’s reopening the Strait of Hormuz, pledging never to develop a nuclear bomb and allowing the United States to remove its enriched uranium. Iran has repeatedly pushed back on those terms.

The spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said in a telephone interview with Iranian state media Friday that current negotiations were limited in scope and did not include “the nuclear issue.” In recent days, the sides have exchanged fire, and Trump has repeatedly threatened a return to full-scale war.

In his post, Trump signaled that a deal would lead the United States to lift its naval blockade, which had targeted Iranian ships and ports, to allow the crucial waterway for oil and gas shipping to reopen. “Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’” he wrote.

U.S. officials said Thursday that a proposed deal would extend the ceasefire to pave the way to more talks on Iran’s nuclear program. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, were granted anonymity to discuss the U.S. view of the current negotiations.

Should an agreement be finalized, it could give Trump an off-ramp from a war that has driven up oil prices and grown deeply unpopular at home. It could also eventually allow Iran to regain access to frozen overseas assets and provide a route for Iran to get billions of dollars of oil revenue flowing again.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

The framework: Some details about a draft agreement emerged on Thursday, according to officials involved in the negotiations.

— Lebanon: The Israeli military moved ground troops deeper into Lebanon on Friday, crossing the Litani River, the informal boundary demarcating southern Lebanon. Deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued Friday.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.