President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed not to develop nuclear weapons as the U.S. weighs a revised peace framework aimed at ending the Middle East war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and containing renewed fighting tied to Lebanon.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed to a central U.S. demand that it not develop nuclear weapons, even as new reports indicated Washington had returned a revised peace framework to Tehran with tougher terms.
Trump made the comments in an interview broadcast Saturday night on Lara Trump’s Fox News program, where he said his administration’s priority in any agreement remains preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and reopening the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of diplomatic pressure, blockades and intermittent military flare-ups.
“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They’ve agreed to that, and it was very interesting,” Trump said.
The New York Times and Axios reported Saturday that Trump sent Iran a new framework with “tougher” provisions, though the specific changes were not immediately clear. Any revisions could delay a formal settlement to end the broader Middle East conflict and restore normal maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route disrupted by competing U.S. and Iranian blockades.
Trump has publicly identified two major objectives for a deal: preventing Iran from advancing toward nuclear weapons and reopening the strait. But Iranian officials have challenged some of Trump’s claims and have suggested the two sides remain divided over major conditions.
Iran has said it wants $12 billion in frozen assets released before entering substantive talks on its nuclear program. Iranian media also reported that Tehran called Trump’s earlier statements about the destruction of enriched uranium “baseless.”
The Iranian government has also insisted that Lebanon be included in any agreement ending the war, as Israeli operations there continued to expand. Beirut has accused Israel of carrying out a “scorched-earth policy” as Israeli forces moved deeper into Lebanon and conducted additional airstrikes it says are aimed at Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group.
Trump, who had previously joined U.S. officials in suggesting that a deal was close, sounded less urgent during the Fox interview and left open the possibility of renewed military action.
“I’m in no hurry,” Trump said. “Slowly but surely we’re getting, I think, what we want and if we don’t get what we want, we’re going to end in a different way.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made similar remarks Saturday at a defense summit in Asia, saying the United States was “more than capable” of restarting the war if needed.
Although daily strikes across Iran and the Gulf largely stopped after Washington and Tehran reached a temporary ceasefire in April and began talks hosted by Pakistan, sporadic combat has continued.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that the Revolutionary Guards shot down a U.S. military drone that was “about to enter Iranian territorial waters to conduct hostile operations.” The United States had not confirmed the incident.
Earlier in the week, the most serious fighting since the ceasefire erupted after U.S. forces struck the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Iran responded with retaliatory fire.
Despite those clashes, negotiations have continued as Trump faces pressure to reach a deal that would remove the U.S. and Iranian blockades around the Strait of Hormuz. The blockades have squeezed international oil supplies and raised concerns about further price increases across the global economy.
Trump said on social media that Tehran would charge “no tolls” on vessels passing through the strait once the blockades are lifted under a deal. Iran’s Fars news agency, citing sources, reported that “no such clause appears in the text of the agreement.”
Iran’s ISNA news agency reported Saturday that lawmaker Alireza Salimi said a plan “to implement Iran’s management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz will soon be approved by parliament.”
The diplomacy is unfolding alongside an escalation in Lebanon. Israel’s military issued evacuation warnings Saturday for additional villages in southern Lebanon, one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had advanced more than 30 kilometers, or 20 miles, into the country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of pursuing a “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment,” and urged “a swift and real ceasefire.”
Israel’s military said early Sunday that it was widening its ground campaign, reporting that “a significant number” of Israeli forces had crossed beyond the Litani River and were conducting expanded operations against Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki area.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah began April 17 but has not held, with each side accusing the other of violations.
The current round of fighting followed Hezbollah rocket attacks in early March, launched in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in U.S.-Israeli strikes. Israel responded with near-daily air raids in Lebanon and later began a ground invasion.
Israel and Lebanon opened direct talks in April, and a fourth round is expected in the coming week.