US President Donald Trump announced on Friday, in a post on Truth Social, that he was entering the Situation Room for a final determination on whether to strike a deal with Iran.
Trump also outlined what a deal must look like, writing, “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb. The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions. All water mines (bombs), if any, will be terminated (we have removed, through detonation, numerous such mines with our great underwater mine sweepers."
He added, “Iran will complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left, which will not be many!). Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’"
Trump continued, “The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED. No money will be exchanged, until further notice. Other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to."
Iran’s Fars news agency, citing informed sources, subsequently reported that the latest comments by Trump about a potential deal were a “mixture of truth and lies."
“Trump claimed that Iran was obligated to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, even though no such clause appears in the text of the agreement," the sources told Fars.
Responding to Trump’s assertion that the US and Iran would coordinate on destroying Iran’s enriched uranium, the agency said, “Well-informed sources emphasized that not only does this not appear in the memorandum of understanding, but this claim is fundamentally baseless."
On Thursday, White House officials confirmed that US and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding that would extend the ceasefire and begin negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, pending the approval of Trump.
Speaking to reporters later on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said that progress has been made but no deal has yet been reached.
“It’s hard to say when or if the President is going to sign the MOU. We're going back and forth on a couple of language points. I do think we’ve made a lot of progress here. It’s very clear, I think, the Iranians want a deal and they want to open the Strait of Hormuz. We want them to open the Strait of Hormuz," Vance said.
“There are a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff and the highly enriched stockpile, the question of enrichment," he continued. “So we’re going back and forth with them. We do think they're negotiating, at least so far, in good faith and we're making some progress."
Vance further said, “Hopefully, we'll continue to make progress and the President will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously, that's still TBD."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)