Trump says Iran peace deal is advancing as U.S. weighs ceasefire terms

Donald Trump cast the Iran talks as moving ahead while leaving military pressure on the table, saying the regime wanted a deal and warning that if it rejected the terms, “the bombing starts.” His comments underscored how little had changed on the ground: diplomacy was advancing in fits and starts, but the ceasefire, fragile as it was, still depended on leverage from renewed force.

The broad outline of an initial agreement was becoming clearer. The terms being discussed would halt Iranian uranium enrichment, lift U.S. sanctions, release frozen Iranian funds and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran said it had received Washington’s response to its latest peace offer, suggesting mediator-backed channels were still active even as Trump said it was too soon for direct face-to-face talks.

The stakes are not abstract. The war began on Feb. 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, and a shaky ceasefire between Washington and Tehran has largely held since April 8. The conflict has already sent fuel prices skyrocketing and rattled the global economy, in part because the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Before the war, the waterway handled about one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments, making any interruption a direct threat to supply lines and prices.

China has been pressing for the fighting to stop and for shipping through Hormuz to resume. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised those demands in meetings with Iran’s top envoy, Abbas Araghchi, adding another layer of outside pressure on both sides to settle on something broader than a temporary pause. Trump also posted that oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by the conflict could restart if Iran agreed, a reminder that the ceasefire terms are being tied as much to energy markets as to nuclear limits.

Public patience for Trump’s handling of the crisis is thin. A PBS News, NPR and Marist Poll found that 60% of Americans disapproved of his handling of Iran, including more than one in five Republicans. That leaves Trump trying to sell progress on a deal that has not yet been signed while the core dispute, sanctions relief, enrichment limits, frozen assets and control of Hormuz, remains unsettled.