Iran says draft deal with US would reopen Hormuz shipping

Iran's state TV said Tehran had obtained a draft of an initial, unofficial framework for a memorandum of understanding with the United States on ending their conflict.

Under the framework, Iran would restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within a month, while the United States would withdraw military forces from Iran's vicinity and lift a naval blockade.

State TV said the framework, which excludes military vessels and envisages Iran managing ship traffic through the strait in cooperation with Oman, was not yet finalised 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.

The emerging US-Iran memorandum stems from indirect talks launched after the war that began in February, with Pakistan playing a central mediating role between Tehran and Washington.

Iran says 'low' possibility of return to war with US

Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said that a return to war with the United States was unlikely, but warned the Islamic republic stood ready to respond to any attack.

The statement came a day after Iran accused the US of breaching the ceasefire in place since April, and warned it was prepared to retaliate following the most serious strikes since the truce took effect.

Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, said that while the likelihood of returning to "war is low because of the enemy's weakness, the armed forces are lying in wait with full magazines".

He went on to warn that the military would turn the area along Iran's coastline "into a graveyard for aggressors", in quotes carried by the Tasnim news agency.

Tehran's intelligence ministry, meanwhile, said that the US and Israel were still seeking to overthrow the Islamic republic and partition Iran.

The ministry said it had evidence that they would smuggle "various weapons, ammunition and illegal communication tools, especially Starlink" satellite internet devices, into Iran to foment religious and ethnic divisions and carry out sabotage missions.

Oil prices drop

Iran and the US have for weeks been engaged in a war of words as they try to negotiate a deal, with mediation efforts led by Pakistan.

With no clear winner in the war, neither side appears ready to compromise on the key sticking points, which include the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran blockaded the strait, which is vital to global energy flows, in retaliation for the war, while the US responded with a counterblockade of Iranian ports

Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy insisted that only ships "willing to abide by Iranian order" would be allowed to pass through the waterway.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Tuesday that a peace deal remained within reach, but that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened "one way or the other".

Oil prices, which are still well above pre-war levels, fell on Wednesday on rekindled hopes for progress in the US-Iran talks, with international benchmark Brent North Sea crude dropping five percent to $94.61 a barrel.