Israeli military chief says Iran targets ready if war resumes

France and its partners are able to ensure security in the Strait of Hormuz, French President Emmanuel Macron’s Elysee office said on Wednesday.

France wants the issue of the Strait of Hormuz to remain separate from current talks between the United States and Iran, it added.

France’s military earlier said the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier group was moving into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as part of efforts by France and Britain to prepare for a possible future mission to help ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States and Iran are moving closer to an agreement on a short memorandum aimed at ending the war, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing a regional source familiar with the negotiations.

The White House received positive feedback from Pakistani mediators on Tuesday that Iran was progressing toward a compromise, the report said, citing two Trump administration officials.

A renewed diplomatic push has emerged in recent days, the report said, citing the regional source.

US President Donald Trump appears to be simplifying issues in peace negotiations so moderates in Iran can return to the negotiating table, CNN quoted the source as saying.

A one-page plan being discussed internally would declare an end to the war and trigger a 30-day negotiation period on unresolved issues including nuclear issues, unfreezing Iranian assets and future security in the Strait of Hormuz, the report said, citing a person familiar with the plan.

The proposal would include discussion of a moratorium on uranium enrichment for longer than 10 years, the report said, citing the source.

The plan would also require Iran to ship its stockpile of highly enriched uranium out of the country, although details were still being negotiated, the report said.

Positive feedback from Pakistani mediators helped spur Trump to announce a pause in “Project Freedom,” an operation to guide stranded ships out of the strait, the report said, citing administration officials.

The harder the US pushed Project Freedom and Operation Epic Fury, the more hardliners in Iran gained influence, CNN quoted the regional source as saying.

Trump’s top priority is finding a diplomatic off-ramp to the war and reopening the strait swiftly, the report said, citing administration officials.

Iran has not yet given a formal response to the latest US text aimed at ending the war because it contains some unacceptable clauses, IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported, citing an informed source.

The unnamed source was quoted as saying that US media reports claiming Iran and the United States were nearing a final one-page agreement to end the war were inaccurate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he held “constructive talks” with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, posting the message in Chinese on X in a pointed signal of Tehran’s effort to emphasize ties with Beijing.

Araghchi said both sides reaffirmed Iran’s right to safeguard its “national sovereignty and national dignity,” and said Tehran appreciated China’s four-point proposal for upholding and promoting regional peace and stability.

He added that Iran “trusts” China and expects Beijing to continue playing a positive role in promoting peace and “stopping war,” while supporting the establishment of a new post-war regional architecture that can coordinate development and security.

Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei dismissed an Axios report about a possible agreement between Iran and the United States, saying Washington would not achieve through war what it failed to gain in negotiations.

“The Axios text is a list of American wishes rather than reality,” Rezaei wrote on X on Wednesday.

He said the United States would not obtain in “a failed war” what it could not secure in direct talks with Iran.

Rezaei also warned that Iran was ready to respond if the United States or its allies took further action.