Bessent says US patience with Iran is limited

Iran’s Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency cited a source close to the negotiating team as saying the text of a potential memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States has neither been finalized nor confirmed.

Reports by Western media saying the memorandum has been finalized are “not true,” Tasnim added.

The agency also said Iran has not informed the Pakistani mediator that the text has been finalized and would notify both the mediator and the public once an agreement is completed.

Revolutionary Guards forces killed two Kurdish brothers after surrounding their hideout in western Iran and opening fire without warning, Hengaw rights group said on Thursday.

Meisam and Mojtaba Veisi were killed in Qaleh Kahoush village in Dalahu county, Kermanshah province, Hengaw said.

“The armed agents opened fire on the residential house from four sides without any prior warning,” Hengaw said, adding the brothers died at the scene.

The group said the two had been living in hiding since nationwide protests in January 2026. It identified them as Kurdish cultural activists and followers of the Yarsan faith.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iranian people must endure economic and political pressure as part of its confrontation with the United States, adding that Iran would not pursue “humiliating” diplomacy or seek nuclear weapons.

“If we stood against the world’s strongest power, we must accept the hardships,” Pezeshkian said on Thursday, according to the state media.

Pezeshkian also blamed Israel for instability in the region and said foreign powers had expected unrest inside Iran after military strikes but were "surprised by continued public support for the government more than 80 days into the conflict."

US and Iranian negotiators have reached a memorandum of understanding on a 60-day ceasefire extension and the launch of talks over Iran’s nuclear program, but President Donald Trump still needs to give final approval, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The news was first reported by Axios.

Al Arabiya also reported citing a diplomatic source that any agreement between Washington and Tehran would be carried out in two phases.

According to the report, the first stage would involve the signing of a memorandum of understanding, with a formal signing ceremony expected to take place in Pakistan.

An Iranian lawmaker said negotiations with the United States had made “good progress” and that most of Tehran’s proposals had been accepted, but added that President Donald Trump’s "unpredictability" remained a major concern.

“The negotiations have seen significant qualitative and quantitative progress,” national security committee member Fadahossein Maleki told Iranian media on Thursday.

Some Iranian demands, Maleki said, still needed to be addressed by Washington and pointed to recent attacks on Iranian ships, adding: “Our only concern is Trump’s unpredictability and his failure to honor commitments.”

He also said parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s recent visit to Qatar focused on frozen Iranian funds and payment mechanisms, describing the outcome as positive for Tehran.