{"id":13098,"date":"2026-05-23T20:19:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/23\/u-s-and-iran-officials-signal-progress-in-negotiations-amid-fragile-ceasefire-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:19:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:19:46","slug":"u-s-and-iran-officials-signal-progress-in-negotiations-amid-fragile-ceasefire-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/23\/u-s-and-iran-officials-signal-progress-in-negotiations-amid-fragile-ceasefire-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. and Iran officials signal progress in negotiations amid fragile ceasefire – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Officials from the U.S. and Iran appear to be nearing a deal to end the ongoing conflict, according to public statements from officials from both nations Saturday.<\/p>\n

A potential deal would come after a fragile, almost two-month ceasefire between the two nations and weeks of negotiations.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in India on Saturday that \u201cthere may be news later today\u201d regarding Iran, though he didn\u2019t specify what the news might be.<\/p>\n

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Also on Saturday, Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state media that \u201cwe are very far from and very close to an agreement.\u201d He added that the positions of the U.S. and Iran in negotiations \u201chave become closer, but not to the point of an agreement rather to the point where a solution may be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump is holding a call with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Pakistan to discuss the situation with Iran, according to two regional officials with knowledge of the talks.<\/p>\n

But in a phone call Saturday with Axios<\/a>, the president resumed previous threats against Iran that have made the ongoing ceasefire tense at times. Trump told the news outlet there was a \u201c50\/50\u201d chance of making a \u201cgood\u201d deal or \u201cblow[ing] them to kingdom come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump told the outlet that he would meet with White House negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Saturday and that he would likely make a decision by Sunday on whether to resume the war.<\/p>\n

In a separate interview with CBS News<\/a>, the president said the two sides are \u201cgetting a lot closer\u201d to a deal. He added, \u201cI will only sign a deal where we get everything we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baghaei told Iranian state media that the current plan was to draft a memorandum of understanding to end the war and then discussions would continue to finalize the agreement in a timeframe of 30 to 60 days. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., slammed the possibility of an extended ceasefire deal with Iran. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe rumored 60-day ceasefire \u2014 with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith \u2014 would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!\u201d Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, there appeared to be renewed energy<\/a> in ongoing negotiations, with Trump saying the two nations could reach a deal to end the war in just a few days.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, Trump said he\u2019d called off a planned attack on Iran<\/a> after regional U.S. allies urged him to hold off because negotiations were moving in a positive direction.<\/p>\n

Still, on Monday, the president warned<\/a> in a post on Truth Social that he\u2019d told U.S. military leaders \u201cto be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment\u2019s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and has led to surging oil prices and threats of escalation, including Trump\u2019s statement in April that \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conflict has led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and cost U.S. taxpayers over $25 billion<\/a>, per estimates from the Pentagon to U.S. lawmakers last month. Thousands of people have been killed across the region, including more than 3,000 in Iran, according to an official from the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officials from the U.S. and Iran appear to be nearing a deal to end the ongoing conflict, according to public statements from officials from both nations Saturday. A potential deal would come after a fragile, almost two-month ceasefire between the two nations and weeks of negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in India […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}