White home Has Presented Iran With Written Nuke Deal Proposal In immense First

Update(10:30ET): With President Trump and his envoy having arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the last leg of the president’s Gulf tour, new details of behind the scenes US-Iran negotiations have come to light on Thursday.

In a huge first, the Trump White House has sent Iran a written proposal toward forging a new nuclear deal. White House envoy Steve Witkoff has led several rounds of talks, and Axios has revealed that the communication was issued to Tehran last Sunday.

„Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took the proposal back to Tehran for consultations with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and other top officials,” writes Axios.

Via Associated Press

It was the Iranian side which initiated the swap of written proposals first, as the talks which have been on since April went from 'indirect’ to more 'direct’:

• During the third round of talks in late April, Araghchi gave Witkoff an updated document with Iranian ideas for a nuclear deal. This time, Witkoff took the document.
• A U.S. team of experts studied it and sent the Iranians a list of questions and requests for clarification. The Iranians replied and added questions of their own, two sources said.
• Meanwhile, Witkoff and his team prepared a U.S. proposal laying out the Trump administration’s parameters for an Iranian civilian nuclear program and requirements for monitoring and verification, the sources said.

It appears that thus far both sides have received the other’s written proposals positively, and that’s what was driving President Trump’s „olive branch” comments on Tuesday. He had stressed while speaking in Saudi Arabia that „this is not an offer that will last forever. The time is right now for them to choose.”

President Trump followed up on Thursday by saying from Qatar, „We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” according to AFP.

He said, „We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second.”

Trump’s comments followed an NBC News interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Tehran is prepared to sign a nuclear deal—provided key conditions are met—in exchange for the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions.

Trump reposted the NBC article indicating Iran is ready to reach a deal (though the details of that deal suggest it would look essentially identical to the JCPOA). pic.twitter.com/LPDLzqu0nd

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) May 15, 2025

NBC News pointed out that Shamkhani’s comments „appear to be the clearest public statement yet on Iran’s expectations and willingness to reach a deal from the supreme leader’s inner circle.”

And the fact that written proposals have already been exchanged is yet further confirmation of this positive trend towards peace. Trump has emphasized that Iran can never have a nuclear bomb, but Tehran itself has long said it’s not pursuing a nuke, and that its program is only for peaceful domestic energy purposes.

* * *

Brent crude prices fell on Thursday as geopolitical risk premiums eased following President Trump’s comments during his Gulf tour, where he signaled that the U.S. is nearing a nuclear deal with Iran. Unlike earlier headlines on AI, defense, and aviation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Trump’s comments suggested a potential breakthrough in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.

„We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump told reporters in a press pool that AFP News first reported.

Speaking in Doha, Qatar, during his Middle East trip, the president said, „We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way.”

An Iranian source told Reuters that negotiations with Trump administration officials still needed to bridge some gaps before a final deal could be reached.

Trump’s comments followed an NBC News interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Tehran is prepared to sign a nuclear deal—provided key conditions are met—in exchange for the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions.

With Trump Touring Gulf, Iran Offers Huge Nuclear Concession https://t.co/NQ4259UIsE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 14, 2025

Trump confirms reports that Iran have “sort of agreed to the terms” that they cannot have nuclear capabilities!

Trump confirms he is currently in “very serious negotiations with Iran, for long-term peace”!

Trump also highlights how “many people” want war with Iran, but that he… pic.twitter.com/rVSkScNRIN

— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) May 15, 2025

NBC News pointed out that Shamkhani’s comments „appear to be the clearest public statement yet on Iran’s expectations and willingness to reach a deal from the supreme leader’s inner circle.”

Trump has offered „an olive branch” to Tehran after a multi-month maximum-pressure campaign, including economic sanctions and deploying long-range stealth bombers to America’s „unsinkable aircraft carrier” – located in the Indian Ocean – ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

However, last week, ahead of Trump’s Gulf tour, we spotted at least one of these stealth bombers returning to the U.S. We suggested this may have been an act of goodwill ahead of talks by the U.S. or possibly just a routine flight.

On Thursday, Brent crude futures fell 3% to $60 a barrel on expectations that a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal would ease sanctions and increase crude oil on international markets.

„The overnight development of a possible nuclear deal is the sole reason for the morning’s weakness. If an agreement is reached, Iran agrees to halt enriching weapon grade uranium and the deal is effectively enforced, which is hard to believe, then the Persian Gulf country’s crude oil exports can rise by as much as 1 [million barrels per day],” PVM analyst Tamas Varga told CNBC in an emailed statement.

„It sounds price negative, but its impact will possibly be mitigated by OPEC+ rolling back on its plan to release barrels back to the market faster than originally planned,” he added.

Goldman trader Rich Privorotsky commented on the development:

Staying with geopolitics there are some rather positive stories emanating out of Iran. „Iran is ready to sign a nuclear deal with certain conditions with President Donald Trump in exchange for lifting economic sanctions, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader told NBC News on Wednesday.” Unclear if the U.S. will agree to the terms but they seem fairly broad: „He said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to only enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.” (NBC news) If confirmed I think oil could eventually end up heading back to the recent lows and I would continue to express any cyclical concerns in this space.

Here’s the latest commentary from UBS traders:

Oil Equity Resilience Amid Oil Price Drop Oil prices are down, mainly because of a potential deal with Iran. That could mean up to 500kb/d increased supply coming to market very quickly. Oil equities, however, are already underweight for generalists and specialists have already de-grossed, following the OPEC+ surprises so far this year – hence oil equities are proving to be relatively resilient even though the oil price is down.

If Trump secures a nuclear deal with Tehran, it would cap off a week of landmark agreements with Gulf nations—collectively worth trillions—and add to an already bullish news cycle for the president. Also, this would mean continued easing of geopolitical risk premiums in the region, in other words, lower energy prices for Trump to pursue his 'America First’ agenda.