Pakistan’s military head Gen. Asim Muni with Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran, May 23, 2026

EA on Monocle Radio: Will Iran’s Proposal End Trump’s War?

US-Israel Wars, Day 86: A 9-Point “Final Draft” For A Settlement With Iran?

UPDATE 1604 GMT:

Eleven people, including six women and a child, have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on the town of Sir al-Gharbiyeh in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon.

Nine wounded include four children and a woman.

UPDATE 1305 GMT:

Rescue teams have recovered three bodies from the rubble of a house targeted by Israeli warplanes this morning in the town of Srifa in southern Lebanon.

UPDATE 1300 GMT:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has followed up on its presentation of the possible US-Iran framework deal (see 1124 GMT).

An Israeli official said the deal is an initial understanding about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz that will lead to further talks on a final agreement.

The official said that Netanyahu made it clear to Trump that Israel will not be constrained in responding to “all threats”, indicating it will continue attacks across southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu will convene a “limited” Security Cabinet meeting this evening to discuss the deal.

UPDATE 1203 GMT:

Ahead of airstrikes, the Israel Defense Forces have issued evacuation warnings for residents of ten villages and towns in southern Lebanon.

People in Mashghara, Deir al-Zahrani, al-Sharqiyah, Doueir, Qlaileh, Sohmor, Zibdin, Nabatiyeh at-Tahta, Arabsalim and Kfar Jouz are instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.

UPDATE 1158 GMT:

Continuing its crackdown during the US-Israel war, Bahrain has sentenced nine defendants to life in prison and two others to three years for allegedly collaborating with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

A court found the men guilty of “hostile and terrorist acts” with the gathering of information on sensitive sites and arrangement of financial transfers.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on May 9 that it had arrested 41 people allegedly linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

UPDATE 1156 GMT:

The Iranian army claims downed an Israeli spying and surveillance drone in the Hormozgan Province in southern Iran.

The wreckage of a shattered Orbiter drone in cooperation with Iranian naval forces, the army said.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is “not familiar with the incident”.

UPDATE 1124 GMT:

A “senior Israeli official” has played down reports of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s concerns over a proposed framework deal to end the US-Israel War on Iran.

Trump told Netanyahu by phone last night that a final agreement will fully dismantle Tehran’s nuclear program, the official said.

Trump “clarified that he will stand firm in the negotiations on his longstanding demand for the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program and the removal of all enriched uranium from Iranian territory, and that he will not sign a final agreement without these conditions being met,” the official said.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “exceptional commitment to Israel’s security”.

UPDATE 0856 GMT:

One person has been killed and two others wounded by an Israeli raid on Bazouriyeh in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon.

Last night, an Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the town of Toura in the district, slaying one person and injuring two.

UPDATE 0828 GMT:

A “senior Iranian source” has emphasized to Reuters, “The nuclear issue will be addressed in negotiations for a final agreement and is therefore not part of the current deal. There has been no agreement over Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stockpile to be shipped out of the country.”

An “informed source” told the Iranian semi-official outlet Tasnim that disagreements remain over one or two clauses.

They said that the Pakistani mediator has been notified that if the obstruction continues, there will be no possibility of completing the memorandum of understanding.

UPDATE 0606 GMT:

Iran has executed another detainee.

The Mizan outlet of Iran’s judiciary said the victim was hanged for sending data about Iran’s defense industry to “the enemy”.

Tehran, alongside China as the world’s largest per capita executioner, has stepped up the killings during the US-Israel War.

UPDATE 0551 GMT:

Israel has destroyed a regional facility of Lebanon’s civil defense in Nabatieh in the south of the country.

Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Defense said the building had collapsed and a large number of vehicles and equipment were damaged by a direct hit from an Israeli airstrike.

There were no reports of casualties. Personnel had been moved to another location before the attack.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Iran and the Trump camp are nearing a “framework agreement” to end the US-Israel War, but there is uncertainty over the details.

After a day of intense discussions in both Tehran and Washington, Donald Trump declared that the deal “has been largely negotiated”.

His proclamation followed calls with the mediator Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, and — perhaps most importantly — the Gulf States. He said a “Memorandum of Understanding” will be announced shortly, asserting that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened as part of the deal.

But through their Fars outlet, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards immediately pushed back Trump’s declaration about the waterway, controlled by Tehran soon after the launch of the US-Israel War on February 28.

They said Iran’s revised proposal, sent to the US via Pakistan, maintained its control over the Strait.

If a possible agreement is reached, the Strait of Hormuz will still be under Iran’s management. Although Iran has agreed to allow the number of passing ships to return to the level before the war, this does not at all mean ‘free passage’ to the pre-war situation.

The management of the Strait, determining the route, time, manner of passage, and issuing permits, will remain exclusively under the control and discretion of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, Trump’s claim in this regard is incomplete and does not correspond to reality.

Iranian officials said the proposal continues to focus on the Strait and the removal of the US blockade on Iranian ports; the lifting of sanctions and also reparations to Tehran for war damage; and an end to fighting on all fronts, which would include Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

A US official acknowledged the end of the blockade, as Iran removes mines from the Strait and transit of ships resumes, and a partial lifting of sanctions. They said it would be a boon to Iran’s economy, but would give significant relief to the global oil market.

Iran’s nuclear program would only be discussed in a second stage. There was no mention — either from Tehran or Trump’s post — of the US demand that Iran move all its enriched uranium out of the country. American officials confirmed that the Iranian proposal did not settle the issue, but maintained that a general statement of Iran’s commitment was critical to the deal.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei added a jab at the Trump camp’s failure to defeat the Iranian regime:

The Next Steps?

A “regional official with direct knowledge” of the mediation said the deal includes an official declaration of the war’s end with a 60-day period for negotiations on the Strait, the US blockade, and the Iranian nuclear program.

The possible breakthrough followed four days of talks in Tehran between Pakistan’s mediators, military head Gen. Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and Iranian officials such as Foreign Minisgter Abbas Araghchi.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flattered Trump while saying Islamabad hopes to host a second round of talks between the US and Iran “very soon”.

An Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his call with Trump, expressed his concern that the proposal would end Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. A US official confirmed Netanyahu’s remarks about the ceasefire and other aspects of the framework, but said the Prime Minister did so respectfully and with deference.

The American official added:

If Hezbollah behaves, Israel will behave. Bibi [Netanyahu] has his domestic considerations, but Trump has the interests of the US and the global economy to think about.

An Israeli official said on Sunday that “the emerging deal is bad”. They declared that the framework shows Iran can weaponize the Strait of Hormuz in a way that is no less effective than possession of a nuclear weapon.