TEHRAN (AFP): The United States and Iran could strike a deal to end the Middle East war as early as Sunday, Washington's top diplomat said, while Tehran insisted the agreement would do nothing to limit its nuclear programme.
Washington and Tehran have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while mediators push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has imposed controls on Gulf shipping and the US has blockaded Iran's ports.
On Sunday, during a visit to India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: "I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news."
This came after US President Donald Trump posted on social media that the deal "has been largely negotiated, subject to finalisation between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries".
Rubio said the agreement would start a "process that can ultimately leave us where the president wants us to be, and that is a world that no longer has to fear or worry about an Iranian nuclear weapon".
Trump's post stressed that the Strait of Hormuz would be re-opened, a development that would bring relief to energy markets after a long Iranian blockade of a crucial waterway that in peacetime carries a fifth of world oil exports.
Iranian officials confirmed the existence of a draft agreement, but stressed that -- contrary to earlier long-standing US demands -- talks on the issue of Iran's contested nuclear programme have been deferred for 60 days after any deal.
- 'Lasting peace' -
According to Iran's Fars news agency, Washington has agreed to release part of Tehran's funds frozen abroad under international economic sanctions and to end its naval blockade of ships travelling to and from Iranian ports.
In exchange, "according to this draft, passage through the Strait of Hormuz would return to pre-war levels under Iranian management".
And, Fars said, "sanctions on oil, gas, petrochemicals and their derivatives would be temporarily lifted during the negotiation period so that Iran can freely sell its products".
Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkey and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday.
Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian delegations in April, hopes to host another round of talks "very soon", Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
He said Pakistan's powerful army chief Asim Munir, who visited Tehran on Friday and Saturday, also joined the call, which "provided a useful opportunity... to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region".
- Lebanese front -
Trump said a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "went very well". US strikes on Iran have been carried out together with Israel since the war began on February 28.
Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumed hostilities, as Trump has often threatened.
"Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war," Ghalibaf said.
On the war's other main front in Lebanon, state media reported that Israel struck the country's south on Saturday, where fighting has continued despite an April 17 ceasefire.
Lebanon's military said a strike targeted an army barracks and wounded a soldier, while Israel said one of its soldiers was killed on Friday near the border.
On Sunday, Lebanon's civil defence agency said its regional facility in the city of Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike. -- AFP
