• Baghaei claims agreement largely negotiated, accuses US of shifting positions
• Pezeshkian declares Iran will not surrender to US pressures, excessive demands
• Trump asserts deal will be either ‘great’ or ‘there will be no deal’; Rubio says will give diplomacy every chance
• Iranian team in Doha to discuss Hormuz, uranium, frozen funds
TEHRAN: As the US expressed hope that the deal with Iran was about to be signed, Iran said on Monday that an agreement was not imminent even though both sides had reached understandings on many issues.
“It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a weekly news briefing. “But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent — no one can make such a claim,” he said, accusing Washington of “contradictions” and shifting its positions.
The remarks come after Iran said it was finalising a 14-point framework for a deal on ending the war. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the war with Iran could materialise on Monday as US President Donald Trump told his negotiators not to “rush”.
In his latest social media post, the US president downplayed the progress surrounding the deal with Iran. President Trump said that the Iran deal “will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal”. He criticised the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, saying that deal was a “direct and open path to a nuclear weapon for Iran”.
In his press conference, Mr Baghaei, however, said that details on Iran’s nuclear programme — a key sticking point for Washington — were not included and that the issue would only be discussed after the two sides agree on the framework. He insisted that the framework being drafted “is focused on ending the war” across the region, including in Lebanon.
Mr Baghaei also said that currently Iran did not have a plan to send a delegation to Pakistan, Reuters reported.
No tolls on Hormuz
Clauses on ending the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, in place since April 13, and arrangements on the strategic Strait of Hormuz were included, he said. “US actions under the title of a naval blockade must be stopped, and at the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take the necessary measures for safe transit in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
He said Iran was not imposing tolls on ships transiting the strait but rather collecting fees for “navigational services”.
“The services that are provided — navigational services in addition to the measures necessary to protect the environment of the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman — require the collection of certain fees,” he said, adding that Iran was “not seeking to collect tolls”.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Indian capital, Delhi, “We thought we might have some news last night. Maybe today.”
“I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Mr Rubio said, adding, “It takes a little while to hear back from Iran.”
He told reporters in New Delhi earlier that the US would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before considering whether to deal with Iran in “another way”.
There was a “pretty solid thing on the table in terms of their ability to open up the strait (of Hormuz), get the strait open, enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter, and hopefully we can pull it off”, Mr Rubio said.
No surrender
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared that Iran will not surrender to US pressures and excessive demands, saying the country’s negotiators will ensure the full restoration of the nation’s rights through the diplomatic process, Iran’s Press TV reported.
Speaking at a meeting with members of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr Pezeshkian noted that after failing on the military front, the enemy concentrated its efforts on economic warfare.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not surrender to excessive pressures and demands under any circumstances,” he said.
In a significant development, the Iranian president also issued an order to reopen international internet access, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media reports. Most Iranians have been unable to access the World Wide Web for 87 days, according to the internet observatory NetBlocks.
Iranians in Doha
Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the US to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday.
The official briefed on the Iranians’ Doha visit told Reuters the discussions focused primarily on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium while Iran’s central bank governor attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal.
Mr Baghaei also confirmed that Qatar’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council visited Iran as part of diplomatic efforts mediated by Pakistan, according to semi-official news agency Tasnim. “The changes in recent weeks have been caused by mediation from Pakistan and other countries,” he was quoted as saying.
Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2026