Iran may agree to dispose of enriched uranium, Trump allies believe
Donald Trump, President of the US (photo: Getty Images)
The Trump administration has stated that Iran has supposedly agreed to dispose of its highly enriched uranium during negotiations with the US, according to CBS News.
According to a senior official in the Trump administration, the US believes that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has approved a model agreement. However, no final deal has been reached before anything is signed.
He added that the question of whether a deal will happen remains open. The official also said that even before the Epic Fury operation, the Iranian system was oppressively slow and opaque, and that the situation has since worsened.
As for the framework agreement, its final approval will take several days. The official said that the nearly finalised deal will be a two‑step process: namely, the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of the American blockade, after which negotiations will follow on a mechanism that would allow Iran to abandon various parts of its nuclear program.
According to him, the US wants Iran to commit to disposing of its highly enriched uranium and resolving other nuclear issues.
The official noted that the Trump administration considers this deal more favourable than the one reached in 2015 under former President Barack Obama, which allowed uranium enrichment up to a certain level.
Officials are still working out the details of the uranium disposal mechanism with people whom Iran's Supreme Leader has authorised to negotiate.
The official also added that a decision on unfreezing Iranian assets has not yet been made, but any sanctions relief will be comparable to Iran's actual fulfilment of the US demands regarding Donald Trump's national security goals.
Summing up, the official said that the difference between the current situation and the period before the six‑week military campaign is that the Iranians are now making serious concessions on issues they were previously unwilling to negotiate.
Negotiations and war
Based on media reports, from Saturday to Sunday, US President Donald Trump had to decide whether to continue negotiations with Iran or resume the war. In the end, the American leader stated that a memorandum of understanding has been largely agreed upon, and only finalisation of details remains. He also said that the Strait of Hormuz would be opened under this document.
Earlier, the parties stated that the aforementioned memorandum is primarily intended to end the war. If agreed, the parties would then have 30–60 days to finalise a definitive peace agreement that would address Iran's nuclear program and other issues.
Incidentally, after Trump's statement, Reuters published an article stating that Iran had not agreed to hand over its stocks of highly enriched uranium, adding that this issue was not part of the preliminary US agreement. The source once again confirmed that the nuclear issue would be discussed during negotiations on the final agreement.
