Iran said on Monday 25 May that no agreement with the United States was close, even as Washington’s top diplomat said a deal was still possible and talks continued in Qatar. Esmail Baghaei, speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press briefing, said confusion in US positions and Israeli interference were making an accord harder to secure.
Baghaei said Iran had reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion, but added that no one could claim the signing of an agreement was imminent. He said the future management of the Strait of Hormuz would be for Oman and Iran to decide, and described the proposal as fees for navigational services rather than tolls. That language matters because the talks are tied to commercial shipping through the strait and to the US lifting its blockade of Iran’s ports.
Marco Rubio kept the door open from Washington, saying a deal was still possible and that the Strait of Hormuz would open “one way or another.” He said there were some talks going on in Qatar on Monday 25 May. Donald Trump also pressed the issue on Truth Social the same day, saying the deal would be “great and meaningful, or there will be no deal at all.”
The negotiations sit inside a broader standoff over access, pressure and leverage. Iran wants a framework that would let commercial shipping move through the Strait of Hormuz while Washington eases restrictions on Iranian ports. Baghaei said a ceasefire in Lebanon would also have to be included in the memorandum of understanding, underscoring how far apart the sides still are even after what he said was progress on a large share of the issues.
That gap is the tension now: each side is talking as if the shape of an agreement is visible, while neither is prepared to say the finish line is near. The public posture has been sharpened by Trump’s hard line, Rubio’s insistence that the passage will open anyway, and Iran’s insistence that outside interference is still clouding the process. For a longer read on how the White House is turning up the pressure, see the latest United States coverage.
Elsewhere on Monday, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum said her government agreed to allow the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup after FIFA approached her administration when the United States said it did not want Iran’s squad to remain in the country throughout the tournament. In southern California, firefighters said they had eliminated the threat of a hazardous chemicals tank exploding in an overnight operation, while protesters outside a New Jersey migrant detention center alleged that US immigration agents used pepper spray and batons against them. The week ahead also brings another high-level moment in Washington, where the Supreme Court of the United States is weighing opinions as justices prepare for their private conference, and a separate logistics note has surfaced around the Coast Guard and the Elissa’s departure for the SAIL 250 voyage.
For now, the central fact is simple: both Tehran and Washington are still talking, but neither is ready to pretend the gap has closed.
