REUTERS, Washington/Dubai

The United States and Iran reached an outline agreement yesterday to extend their ceasefire pending the approval of President Donald Trump, after Iran had targeted a US air base in Kuwait following US strikes on what Washington called an Iranian drone operation.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the two sides agreed a memorandum of understanding to extend the truce for 60 days but the plan still needed Trump’s signoff. The news was first reported by Axios, which said that negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme would be held during that period. It was later carried out by major news outlets including Al Jazeera.

The reports prompted oil prices to reverse course and trade lower on hopes of a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has repeatedly said the end of the war is close but told media at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday he was not yet satisfied by the negotiations and that the US was not discussing easing sanctions, one of Tehran’s demands.

The latest attacks, while limited, highlighted the fragility of negotiations to turn the tenuous early-April ceasefire into a lasting agreement to end the three-month-old war -- which has killed thousands -- and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.

US Central Command said US forces had shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth. Kuwaiti forces had then intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the country, which hosts a large US base.

“These actions were measured, purely The

SEE PAGE 2 COL 5