Iran–US framework agreement expires with little to show

In mid-August 2026, the framework agreement between Iran and the United States expired, prompting a wave of assessments in the press about what it had actually achieved. Most outlets concluded that the deal, which was meant to ease tensions, delivered few concrete results. Around the same time, Iranian officials, including Foreign Ministry spokesman Baqaei, denied reports of backchannel talks between Washington and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), calling them "fabricated."