Iran has proposed a three-stage framework for talks with the United States, communicated through mediators, the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen reported, according to Russian daily Argumenty i Fakty (AiF) on April 27.

"Iran has informed mediators of a negotiating format based on three stages, and if Washington accepts it, Tehran will conduct negotiations accordingly," the broadcaster said.

The first stage envisages an end to the conflict and the provision of guarantees to Iran and Lebanon on the cessation of further hostilities. Once these conditions are met, the parties would move to the second stage, which would address the status of the Strait of Hormuz alongside Oman, with the aim of creating a new legal framework for the waterway. The third stage would cover negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, and could only begin once the first two phases had been completed.

The reported framework follows months of indirect contacts between Tehran and Washington since the outbreak of hostilities in late February 2026, mediated through Oman, Qatar and Pakistan. With Iranian foreign minister visiting Moscow on April 27 for talks. 

US President Donald Trump on April 25 cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, who had been due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Islamabad, AiF reported.

Trump said he currently preferred telephone contacts to in-person negotiations between US and Iranian representatives, citing a reluctance in Washington to spend time on travel.

The disclosure of the Iranian framework comes as Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held separate calls on April 26 with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Araghchi, focused on the trajectory of US-Iran negotiations and consolidation of ceasefire arrangements.

Iranian political figures have publicly hardened Tehran's position on the format of any contact. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior political adviser, told Fars News Agency on April 26 that Iran would not engage in direct negotiations with the United States and would only accept third-party mediation to formalise an end to hostilities, ruling out any link between such an arrangement and the nuclear file or the Strait of Hormuz.

The proposed sequencing in the Iranian framework, with the nuclear question relegated to the final stage, aligns with that public position. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is a domestic matter and that hostilities must be ended before any wider negotiating agenda is opened.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global oil supplies pass, has emerged as a central concern for Gulf states and energy markets since the start of the conflict. Oman has historically played a quiet diplomatic role on Strait-related matters, hosting earlier rounds of indirect US-Iran contacts before the most recent escalation.