{"id":213024,"date":"2026-06-07T20:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/how-many-times-were-the-us-and-iran-on-the-verge-of-a-deal-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T20:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:54:48","slug":"how-many-times-were-the-us-and-iran-on-the-verge-of-a-deal-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/how-many-times-were-the-us-and-iran-on-the-verge-of-a-deal-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"How many times were the US and Iran on the verge of a deal? – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

One hundred days into the US-Israel war on Iran, we look at the number of times a deal seemed close.<\/em>
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While a peace agreement remains elusive on the 100th day since the US and Israel first launched strikes on Tehran on February 28, the US and Iran have appeared to come close to a deal on several occasions.
The war began with Operation Epic Fury, the joint campaign waged by the United States and Israel against Iran at the end of February. Iran retaliated by attacking both Israel and US military assets in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Armed hostilities largely subsided after the temporary Pakistan-mediated ceasefire began on April 8. Direct talks in Islamabad fell apart on April 12 and the two sides have exchanged a series of proposals for peace via Pakistan since then.
However, several flare ups since have escalated fears that full\u2011scale fighting could resume.
Here is what happened each time the US and Iran were close to a deal, and why the prospect of peace fell through.
What happened: <\/strong>On April 11 and 12, representatives from the US and Iran met in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, for the first direct talks between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
The US delegation was led by Vice President JD Vance and included Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iranian negotiators included Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Ali Bagheri Kani, a senior member of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council and chief nuclear negotiator.
Ahead of those talks, Ghalibaf publicly stated that for Iran, a ceasefire by Israel in Lebanon and the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad were non-negotiables for Tehran. Israel has carried out near-daily strikes on Lebanon since March 2, and now occupies about one-fifth of the country, since Iran-backed Hezbollah launched strikes on northern Israel in retaliation for the initial attacks on Tehran.
\u201cThis is a make-or-break moment for lasting peace,\u201d Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the night before the Islamabad talks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What went wrong: <\/strong>There had been talk of extending the negotiations into a third day. Iranian officials were reportedly ready to stay, suggesting they wanted to keep talking. The US delegation, however, decided to wrap up. \u201cWe have been at it now for 21 hours,\u201d Vance said after the talks. \u201cThe good news is that we\u2019ve had substantive discussions. The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement.\u201d
Vance said that while Washington was flexible, Tehran had refused to accept its \u201cfinal and best offer\u201d.
\u201cWe need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon\u2026 not just now, but for the long term,\u201d Vance said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen that yet.\u201d
Iran\u2019s ambassador in Islamabad deemed the talks \u201cnot an event, but a process\u201d which \u201claid the foundation\u201d for future engagement. However, the US and Iran have not held any direct talks since then.
Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities have emerged as a major bone of contention between the US and Iran.
Iran is believed to be holding an estimated 440kg (970lb) of uranium enriched to 60 percent, short of the 90 percent required for weapons-grade material, but at the point at which it becomes much quicker to reach 90 percent.
Tehran has said for years that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only and it does not intend to build nuclear weapons. But Israel, the US and other Western countries allege that Iran has been preparing to have the capacity to build nuclear weapons.
They argue the 60 percent enrichment level achieved so far is well above what is needed for a civilian nuclear energy programme \u2013 between three and five percent enrichment. The US wants this stock of 60 percent enriched uranium to be handed over, but Iran rejects that.
Naysan Rafati, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank told Al Jazeera that in each instance that the US and Iran have been close to an agreement \u201cthere\u2019s been a combination of progress on certain issues, and deadlock on others. So close isn\u2019t good enough \u2013 even if there\u2019s 95 percent agreement, the remaining five percent tends to be the hardest.\u201d
Rafati said that when it comes to Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, there are differences on both the substance and sequencing of an agreement.
\u201cTehran wants to defer the details for subsequent talks, while Washington seeks more clarity from the outset. So it\u2019s a combination of the familiar \u2013 Iran\u2019s enriched uranium stockpiles and the future trajectory of its nuclear activity \u2013 and the more recent.\u201d
What happened after:\u00a0<\/strong>Within\u00a0four days of the ceasefire and the collapse of direct talks, Washington announced a\u00a0naval blockade<\/a> of shipping in and out of Iranian ports in a bid to curtail Tehran\u2019s ability to raise revenues from oil sales \u2013 a major escalation that undercut any sense of momentum.
What happened:\u00a0<\/strong>On April 16, Trump announced<\/a> that Israel and Lebanon had reached a 10-day ceasefire to allow negotiations for a more permanent security and peace agreement to continue. That came after six weeks of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Hezbollah.
The clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have been the most direct, high\u2011intensity front between Iran\u2019s principal regional ally and a US\u2011backed army during the war with Iran. Tehran has repeatedly signalled that an end to hostilities in Lebanon is a prerequisite for any broader peace plan. As a result, the Lebanon ceasefire raised hopes that it could open the door to a wider, more durable ceasefire with Iran itself.
Since March 2, more than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, and more than one million have been forced from their homes.
What went wrong:\u00a0<\/strong>Israel continued strikes on Lebanon despite the \u201cceasefire\u201d.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) an independent, humanitarian, non-governmental organisation, estimates that nearly 600 people were killed in the month after the ceasefire was announced.
\u201cThere are certain red lines each side has held that proved irreconcilable. And as with any agreement, even if you are able to close gaps between the respective positions, specific points of contention can foil the wider process,\u201d Rafati said.
Iran has maintained that peace in Lebanon is one such red line.
What happened: <\/strong>The day after the \u201cceasefire\u201d was announced on April 17, Araghchi wrote<\/a> in an X post: \u201cIn line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire\u201d.
Trump confirmed in a social media post that the strait was \u201ccompletely open and ready for business and full passage\u201d.
The Strait of Hormuz has also been a major chokepoint in peace talks.
Since early March, Iran has restricted shipping through the strait, the narrow waterway linking Gulf oil producers to the open ocean and through which 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies were shipped before the war. Iran has allowed passage by vessels from select countries, but they are required to negotiate transit with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) \u2013 with some reportedly paying as much as $2m per ship at one point during the war.
In its previous proposals to end the war, Iran has proposed charging transit fees or tolls. Washington has repeatedly rejected that prospect.
What went wrong:\u00a0<\/strong>Despite Araghchi\u2019s announcement, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would \u201cremain in full force\u201d until Iran reached a deal with the US to end the war.
Iran rejected that, saying that if its own ships were unable to pass, no others would be allowed to do so. It has since fired at or seized foreign-flagged ships trying to sail through the strait.
\u201cUnlike previous rounds of negotiations, which focused primarily on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, the war has brought the Strait of Hormuz to the forefront,\u201d Rafati said.
\u201cThe Iranians want to maintain some form of influence over the Strait of Hormuz, while the US \u2013 and many other governments would agree \u2013 seek a return to the pre-war status quo, where navigation was not under threat of fire, and not subject to tolls or service charges,\u201d Rafati said.
\u201cWashington also wants to minimise or avoid a financial reprieve for Tehran, be that in the form of sanctions relief or access to assets, without significant nuclear concessions.\u201d
What happened:\u00a0<\/strong>On June 1, Trump had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel\u2019s latest escalation in southern Lebanon, US news outlet Axios reported, citing two unnamed US officials and a third source briefed on the call.
The day before, Israeli forces captured the strategically important Beaufort Castle<\/a> and its surrounding ridge close to Nabatieh in southern Lebanon overlooking the Litani River, with views all the way to northern Israel.
Trump\u2019s call to Netanyahu also came after Iran threatened to abandon negotiations over Israel\u2019s continued attacks on Lebanon. The sources told Axios that Trump accused Netanyahu of ingratitude and called the Israeli PM \u201ccrazy\u201d.
This sparked hopes that Trump might finally threaten to withdraw support for Israel and force it to cease attacks on Lebanon.
What went wrong:\u00a0<\/strong>While Axios cited an unnamed Israeli source saying that Israel planned to cease its attacks on Lebanon, the attacks nevertheless continued<\/a>.
On Friday, Israel struck the Naqoura area, despite the announcement of yet another US-brokered conditional ceasefire<\/a> on Thursday. Lebanon\u2019s National News Agency (NNA) has reported that an Israeli air raid overnight on a building in the town of Doueir, in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, killed one person. The Israeli military also issued forced displacement orders for Aarnaya, Aanqoun and Kfar Kila, three villages and towns in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

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One hundred days into the US-Israel war on Iran, we look at the number of times a deal seemed close.SaveShareWhile a peace agreement remains elusive on the 100th day since the US and Israel first launched strikes on Tehran on February 28, the US and Iran have appeared to come close to a deal on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}