The Trump administration assessed on Friday, 13 June that Iran's political and military leadership is converging toward a consensus on a proposed nuclear agreement with the United States, even as pockets of hardliner resistance persist. A senior administration official, briefing reporters, said the deal could be signed within days.

What the US Is Seeing Inside Iran

According to the senior official, Washington has accumulated growing evidence that key centres of power in Tehran back the proposed pact. "Most of the people that we've been speaking to, and most of the people who have authority within their system, want to sign this deal," the official said.

The official acknowledged that Iran's political architecture remains layered and that internal disagreements have not fully dissolved. "Not everybody" supports the agreement, the official said, but added that "those internal fractures are sort of working themselves out as they continue to try to get to a point where they can say yes to the deal."

The MOU Text and Negotiating Progress

Negotiations have reportedly advanced well beyond preliminary verbal understandings. Both sides are now working from a shared draft document. "We actually have a text of an MOU that I think both sides feel good about," the official said, signalling a qualitative shift in the state of talks.

This marks a significant departure from earlier rounds, which officials characterised as exploratory. The current phase involves text that has reportedly received substantial internal backing on both sides.

The Supreme Leader Question

Iran's Supreme Leader is widely regarded as the indispensable authority for any major national security decision in Tehran. Asked whether the Supreme Leader had formally approved the agreement, the official stopped short of a definitive confirmation but pointed to encouraging signals received through interlocutors.

"Both on the civilian and military side, both of whom have attested that the Supreme Leader is comfortable with where we are in the negotiation," the official said. The official simultaneously acknowledged the limits of Washington's visibility into internal Iranian deliberations, noting: "Obviously, in their system, they can't do anything without the sign off of the Supreme Leader."

IRGC and Hardliner Stance

The administration pushed back against suggestions that opposition from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or hardline factions could derail the process. "What we do also see is a broad consensus in the IRGC, among the hardliners, among the civilian leadership, that this is a good and acceptable deal," the official said.

Notably, the official characterised some internal critics as objecting not to the negotiations themselves, but to the terms — arguing the deal does not deliver enough benefits to Iran. "There are some people within their system who don't love this deal," the official said, but the administration's assessment is that such dissent is unlikely to block a final agreement if talks remain on their current trajectory.

Background: Islamabad Talks and the Diplomatic Opening

The administration also defended earlier rounds of engagement, including discussions held in Islamabad, which some observers had characterised as inconclusive. The official argued those meetings served a structural purpose — establishing direct communication channels between the two governments after decades of hostility.

"They were designed to introduce the highest levels of the Iranian government to the highest levels of the US government," the official said. The Islamabad talks, according to the administration, helped clarify negotiating positions and build working relationships that did not previously exist. With a text now on the table and confidence reportedly rising on both sides, the coming days are likely to be decisive for the proposed agreement.