US President Donald Trump has requested several targeted modifications to a preliminary diplomatic accord hammered out by American and Iranian negotiators, Axios reported on Saturday, citing a senior administration official and a well-placed source familiar with the matter.
The directives were issued during a high-stakes meeting inside the White House Situation Room on Friday, according to the report.
While US officials emphasize that the president is motivated to finalize the agreement in the near future, he remains firmly committed to fortifying key provisions that align with his core national security goals - specifically regarding the management of Iran's nuclear stockpiles.
This fresh wave of presidential demands has initiated an unexpected round of diplomatic maneuvering between Washington and Tehran that is expected to delay the signing for several days.
The development follows a public announcement by the president on Friday morning confirming the Situation Room huddle, which heavily hinted that he was leaning toward accepting the framework.
Following the conclusion of the session, a White House official informed reporters that the president “will only make a deal that is good for America, satisfies his redlines and makes sure Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon."
Concurrently, Iranian officials reported via state media that their leadership had also withheld final approval of the text. This contradicted earlier claims from two American officials who suggested Tehran was fully prepared to execute the document and was merely waiting on the White House.
Behind closed doors, the president instructed his negotiating team to adjust specific clauses governing the Islamic Republic's nuclear capabilities, according to Axios.
In its original draft, the memorandum of understanding bound Iran to a generalized commitment to forgo the pursuit of a nuclear weapon, but lacked concrete concessions beyond that vow. The existing framework outlines a 60-day diplomatic window to negotiate subsequent nuclear restrictions and corresponding American sanctions relief. The immediate priorities for those future talks were slated to be the disposal of Iran's enriched uranium reserves and caps on future refinement.
The president is now actively seeking to front-load and refine those specific parameters, said the sources cited by Axios.
“It's more specifics about how the U.S. gets the material and the timing," a senior administration official clarified, referring to the enriched uranium.
A second source noted that Trump is also pushing to revise the explicit verbiage governing the highly anticipated reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite the friction, the administration remains confident that an ultimate breakthrough will occur.
“There will be a deal. The imminence of it, we'll see. We're willing to wait so the president gets what he asks for. It could be a week. It could be less. It could be more. At the turn of the week, we hope to have something," the senior administration official stated.
Official requests for comment from the White House went unanswered.