US President Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal, The Guardian reported.
In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, will fly to Washington on Friday to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.
Tehran targeted a US airbase in Kuwait on Thursday after Washington struck what it described as an Iranian drone operation near the strait of Hormuz, highlighting the fragile situation as both sets of negotiators refuse to cede ground on final points of disagreement.
Trump’s Wednesday cabinet had been expected to discuss the deal, but Axios reported the US president as saying he needed a few more days to think about it.
The draft Trump has shared is not vastly different to the one that has been circulating across the Middle East for days, under which the Strait of Hormuz would be opened to commercial shipping, the US blockade of Iranian ports would be lifted and Iran would be given access to as much as $12bn (£9bn) in frozen assets.
The aim would be for commercial shipping in the Strait to return to pre-war levels within 30 days and for negotiations envisaged to last as long as 60 days to commence on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
This would include discussions about its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, a time-limited suspension of further enrichment and supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Iran would renounce the use of nuclear weapons.
China is pressing for the UN security council to ratify any agreement.
The current scope of the agreement would be deeply unpalatable for Israel, because it defers Iran making any firm nuclear commitments and requires a permanent ceasefire to include Lebanon.
