The United States and Iran signaled on Friday that an agreement to end their war was close, with a senior US administration official saying both sides had agreed on a text and that Washington expects to sign an initial deal in the coming days.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that while changes in the deal were still possible, the tentative agreement showed his country had emerged stronger from the conflict.

"Iran is the winner of the war with the US," he said on state television.

Hours after those remarks, US forces shot down multiple Iranian one-way attack drones heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, a source said, adding that they had posed a threat to commercial traffic. US Central Command later confirmed the action and said the waterway was open for transit.

Iranian news agencies had reported that explosions were heard along the strait in Iran's Sirik port and Qeshm island, which residents and local officials attributed to shots fired by Iranian forces to warn vessels attempting to cross the waterway without permission from the Revolutionary Guards' navy.

The proposed memorandum of understanding calls for reopening the strait and lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, sources on all sides of the talks said. Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program – President Donald Trump's stated rationale for starting the war – would take place afterwards.

Accounts of the draft proposal from Western, Pakistani and Iranian sources pointed to terms that could favour Iran, drawing criticism from Trump, who dismissed the reports as inaccurate.

Araghchi said Iran would, along with Oman, retain control of traffic through the strait, which before the war handled one fifth of the world's oil and gas supply.

"Our sword will always hang over the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

US ally Israel has said that Trump had promised it that any agreement would see Iran stripped of its enriched nuclear material, but Tehran's official IRNA news agency said this was not even on the table.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clashed with Trump in recent weeks over US demands that Israel curb military action in Lebanon to allow Washington to reach a deal with Tehran.

Araghchi said the agreement would end the war in Lebanon, implying an Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas.

The conflict has become a political headache for the White House, amid rising fuel prices and slipping approval ratings for Trump. (Reuters/AFP)




Edited by Azam Khan