Pakistan, May 25 -- The United States and Iran are said to have agreed in principle to a framework that could wind down the Middle East war by reopening the Strait of Hormuz and committing Tehran to dispose of its highly enriched uranium, a senior US official told reporters on Sunday. Another American official went further, saying Washington believed Iran's supreme leader had signalled he would not veto the broad outline of the deal.

To date, no Iranian source has publicly corroborated that assertion. A senior Tehran official told Reuters on Sunday that the Islamic Republic had not agreed to hand over its stockpile and that the nuclear file remained outside any preliminary agreement. Another Iranian official, quoted by The Guardian, adde...