Headlines have their own, unique grammar rules in English. They elide a lot of words to save space.
In general, the semi-colon joins two distinct clauses that could each stand alone as sentences, but it implies more of a relationship between them than a period would. In this headline the implication is that they have not finalized the deal despite good progress because of the President’s hesitation. In contrast, colons join two clauses with the explicit meaning that one clause introduces, or elaborates on, the other. Here, headlinespeak kind of abuses that usage to show that the ideas expressed in the first clause are explained as originating from Vance. It’s much more common to put the name of the person first, like, “Vance: Iran and US…”
So, the headline is saying that according to statements by JD Vance, Iran and the US have made good progress on a deal, but [REDACTED] hasn’t approved it yet.
Headlines have their own, unique grammar rules in English. They elide a lot of words to save space.
In general, the semi-colon joins two distinct clauses that could each stand alone as sentences, but it implies more of a relationship between them than a period would. In this headline the implication is that they have not finalized the deal despite good progress because of the President’s hesitation. In contrast, colons join two clauses with the explicit meaning that one clause introduces, or elaborates on, the other. Here, headlinespeak kind of abuses that usage to show that the ideas expressed in the first clause are explained as originating from Vance. It’s much more common to put the name of the person first, like, “Vance: Iran and US…”
So, the headline is saying that according to statements by JD Vance, Iran and the US have made good progress on a deal, but [REDACTED] hasn’t approved it yet.