Amid Trump's renewed 'bombing' threat, a one-page plan to end two-month US-Iran conflict

The United States and Iran appeared closer to an initial agreement to end their two-month conflict.

US President Donald Trump, in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, said the conflict could soon end and disrupted oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could resume if Iran agreed to the terms under discussion.

“Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” Trump said.

“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” he added.

The remarks came hours after Trump announced a pause in “Project Freedom”, a US naval operation launched to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military earlier said it had established a protected shipping corridor and sunk six Iranian boats that had threatened merchant vessels in the strait. Only two commercial ships are known to have used the guarded route so far.

One-page memorandum

According to US media reports, the White House is seeking a one-page memorandum of understanding with Iran that would end hostilities and create a framework for detailed negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The proposed arrangement reportedly includes Iran committing to a moratorium on uranium enrichment, the United States agreeing to lift sanctions and release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, and both sides easing restrictions on maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz

According to CNN, the memorandum would declare an end to the war and trigger a 30-day period resolving nuclear demands, unfreezing of Iranian assets and negotiating security in the Strait of Hormuz.

US officials were expecting Iran’s response on several key issues within the next 48 hours, according to Axios, though no final agreement has yet been reached.

Iran, however, struck a cautious tone, insisting that negotiations must be conducted in “good faith”.

“The concept of negotiations requires, at the very least, a genuine attempt to engage in discussions with a view to resolving the dispute,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei said in a post on X.

He said that negotiations were not “dictation, deception, extortion or coercion”.

In remarks to Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), Baqaei said Tehran was still considering the American proposal and was communicating its views through Pakistani mediators.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, where the two sides discussed regional peace efforts.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Araghchi said Iran appreciated China’s “four-point proposal” for promoting regional stability and looked forward to Beijing playing an active role in ending the conflict and shaping a “new post-war regional framework”.

A fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran has largely held since April 8.