White House disputes Iranian state TV reports of terms of deal to end war

Trump says he feels no pressure to make a deal with Iran, which he said is being 'clobbered' by effects of war

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. and Iran still have issues ‌to resolve in peace talks, after Washington dismissed an Iranian state television report of a framework deal to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz within a month and to lift a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ships.

Trump told a cabinet meeting that Iran remained keen to end the war, which has choked global energy supplies through the strategic waterway, but that the terms did not satisfy Washington.

"Iran is very much intent, they want very much to make a deal. So far they haven't gotten there ... We're not satisfied with it, but we will be. Either that or we'll have to just finish the job," he said, without elaborating.

"The deal has got to be perfect," he later added, insisting that the Strait of Hormuz would be open immediately after a deal is reached and that no single country would have control over the waterway.

Iran's ‌state TV reported it had obtained a draft of an initial unofficial framework for a memorandum of ⁠understanding ⁠with ‌the United States.

The White ‌House said the report of the understanding ‌between Iran and the United States ⁠was "not true" and ⁠that ⁠the ⁠cited memorandum was "a complete ⁠fabrication."

Iran war is a 'lose-lose,' says international relations expert

No pressure to reach a deal, Trump says

Trump said that the Iranian economy has been "clobbered" by the effects of the war and that Tehran would not be able to outlast his administration in a waiting game. The president said he felt no pressure to strike a deal given the approaching U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 3, even as polls suggest headwinds for Republicans as Americans have felt the pinch from rising gas prices.

"We prefer the negotiated, diplomatic route and we're going to give it every chance to succeed," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the same media availability.

Iranian State ‌TV said the framework, which excludes military vessels and envisages Iran managing ship traffic through the strait in co-operation with Oman, ⁠was not yet finalized and that Tehran would take no steps without "tangible verification."

It added that if a ‌final agreement was reached within 60 days, it could be approved as a binding UN Security Council resolution.

Traffic through the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global trade in oil and liquefied natural gas, has been a fraction of its usual level since the war began.

"The strait is international waters and Oman will have to behave just like everyone else or we'll blow 'em up," said Trump in response to a reporter question about Iran and Oman overseeing navigation through the Hormuz.

Trump said that once a deal is struck, the U.S. would monitor shipping there. He also said ‌that Oman, on the southern shores of the strait, would have to play its part in the process as well. The strait is covered by international law that guarantees foreign vessels the right to pass through.

"We'll watch over it, but nobody's going to control it — that's part of the negotiation that we have," he said. Oil prices fell more than five per cent after the Iranian television report, before retracing about a fifth of that fall.

The war began on Feb. 28 with a U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, boosting energy prices as well as straining global supply chains.

The state media broadcast came a day after Iran's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. had violated a ceasefire by striking targets near the contested Strait of Hormuz.

Further straining peace efforts, Israel pounded Lebanon with more than 120 airstrikes on Tuesday in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks, Lebanese security sources said. Iran has sought an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as part of any deal.

Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium, but negotiations on Iran's stockpile of uranium don't appear to be imminent. Trump last year claimed strikes conducted with Israel over a 12-day period had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilities.

The last deal over the nuclear program — struck in 2015 and torn up by Trump in 2018 — took years of negotiations between large teams of technical experts.

Several Republicans in Congress have bristled in recent days at what they've seen reported about a deal framework, arguing that Iran would still retain the ability to be a disruptive and dangerous force in the Middle East.

With files from The Associated Press