The US and Iran still need to work out several sticking points before an agreement on the war can be reached, Vice-President JD Vance has said.
Asked if President Donald Trump was close to signing a deal, Vance said it was too early to say “when or if” the two sides would finalise an agreement.
The deal would reportedly extend the ceasefire for 60 days and launch talks on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Earlier on Thursday, US officials told the BBC that the two countries had agreed a framework of a deal, pending the approval of Trump and Iran’s leadership.
But Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the deal had not been finalised or confirmed.
Speaking on Thursday evening, Vance said negotiators were “going back and forth on a couple of language points”, which include the “question of enrichment”.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re very close and we’re going to keep on working at it,” he told reporters.
The US has long demanded that Iran stop producing highly enriched uranium and dispose of its existing stockpile, which in theory could be used to create nuclear weapons.
Vance struck an optimistic tone as he spoke to reporters in Washington DC, saying the US believed the Iranians were negotiating in “good faith”.
Since the initial ceasefire between the US and Iran came into effect on 8 April, Trump has suggested – repeatedly – that the two sides are close to a deal and that negotiations are progressing, but so far there have been no substantive results.
The president is facing mounting pressure to end the war, including from Gulf state allies, Democrats who oppose it, and some Republicans in Congress who have raised concerns about the length of the conflict.
Thursday’s conflicting reports on a possible deal underscored how fluid the negotiations remain.
Both countries contradicted each other’s claims and offered few details on the reported proposal, raising questions again about how close the sides actually are to ending hostilities.
Trump and other officials have warned that “option B” – a return to combat operations – is still on the table.
Extending the ceasefire, meanwhile, would allow US and Iranian teams to discuss the far more complicated and technical issues at play, particularly about Iran’s nuclear programme and its remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Trump had suggested that the US could take it, or, together with Iran, dilute it in place or in a third location.
