President Donald Trump said on Saturday that a deal with Iran to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz was nearly negotiated, after he spoke with Gulf leaders and said the agreement with Tehran had been largely negotiated. He gave no details on Iran’s nuclear program in the announcement, even as the talks moved into their most sensitive phase.
An Israeli official said the United States was updating Israel on negotiations for a memorandum of understanding to open the Strait of Hormuz and on talks for a final agreement on the disputed points. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke overnight with Trump, and the call was set up at the Israeli leader’s request, the official said.
Trump, however, made clear he would not sign a final agreement unless Iran accepted two conditions: dismantling its nuclear program and removing all enriched uranium from Iranian territory. He said he would stand firm on both demands.
A senior Iranian source told that Tehran has not agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium stockpile, undercutting reports that a deal was already close on the core issue. That denial leaves the talks with a gap between what Washington is signaling and what Tehran is prepared to concede.
The dispute is drawing sharper political scrutiny as well. Senator Ted Cruz said he was deeply concerned about what he was hearing about an Iran “deal” being pushed by some voices in the administration. He warned that if the result left an Iranian regime receiving billions of dollars, able to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and with effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, it would be a disastrous mistake, and he said the early reports were wrong.
The negotiations now hinge on whether those red lines can be reconciled before Sunday, when a final answer was expected from the U.S. The outcome matters because the talks touch both the future of Iran’s nuclear program and the flow of shipping through one of the world’s most sensitive waterways.
