{"id":149769,"date":"2026-06-07T20:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/149769\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T20:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T20:56:15","slug":"trump-us-very-close-to-deal-with-iran-but-demanding-stricter-nuclear-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/149769\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump: US ‘very close’ to deal with Iran, but demanding stricter nuclear terms"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington is \u201cvery close\u201d to reaching a deal with Iran, but is seeking airtight language to ensure the country cannot get a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to put it out permanently,\u201d he told NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d referring to the nuclear threat. \u201cEither I\u2019m going to do it through negotiation \u2013 where we\u2019re very close to a deal \u2013 or I\u2019m going to blow the hell out of them, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview was recorded before a major escalation in the conflict later that day. After Hezbollah \u2014 an Iranian proxy that attacked Israel on March 2 in support of its sponsor \u2014 targeted northern Israel, Israel launched airstrikes<\/a> in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, which it had largely refrained from attacking, in deference to the US. A few hours later, Iran directly attacked Israel for the first time since an April 8 truce.<\/p>\n

Trump told NBC: \u201cThey (Iran) cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if there was even a one percent chance that they\u2019d have it, I wouldn\u2019t leave.\u201d He added: \u201cWe\u2019re almost finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said Iran has \u201cconceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons,\u201d and already agreed to language committing not to \u201cdevelop\u201d them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd I said, \u2018Well, what happens if they, not develop, but they go out and purchase, they acquire? I want to put the word, \u2018If they buy, purchase or acquire,\u2019\u201d he said, arguing, \u201cYou know, you\u2019ve got to have that in there, too, because that\u2019s not developing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Islamic Republic has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon, it has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels \u2013 far beyond what is necessary for civilian purposes \u2013 and has obstructed inspectors from checking its facilities.<\/p>\n

Tehran has not made any public concessions on its nuclear program, insisting that negotiations on the matter occur only once a preliminary ceasefire \u2013 including the lifting of the US blockade, imposed after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 is already in place.<\/p>\n

Trump reiterated that Washington will retrieve and destroy Iran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium if the sides reach an agreement, while warning that the US would further degrade Iran\u2019s capabilities and secure the material by force if talks collapse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we make a deal that now we\u2019re friendly, we\u2019ll all go together. It\u2019ll be our equipment. We\u2019ll take it out and destroy it, whether it\u2019s on-site or whether we take it off-site,\u201d he said of the uranium.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPakistan\u2019s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, left, delivers a message from his nation\u2019s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, to be delivered to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, June 7, 2026. (Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry, via AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t make a deal, then we\u2019re going to take them out militarily, very harshly. And we\u2019ll wait \u2019till we do that before we go, in which case we\u2019ll have safety either way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president told reporters Thursday that American forces could remove Iran\u2019s enriched uranium even without a deal, but argued that \u201cthere\u2019s no reason to\u201d<\/a> because the regime currently cannot access the stockpile. He also revealed that he considered sending US troops to retrieve the buried uranium stockpile at the outset of the war, but decided against it because of the military risks involved.<\/p>\n

Trump told NBC that he intends to keep US troops deployed in the region until the \u201ccompletion\u201d of the talks, and that he was not demanding that Lebanon be a part of a short-term deal with Tehran.<\/p>\n

He also said he would not unfreeze Iranian assets or lift any sanctions before a peace deal is reached, saying that relief \u201ccomes after.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they behave, if they do a good job, we start talking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump asserted, as he has in the past, that Iran\u2019s leadership is now \u201cmore rational\u201d and \u201cvery smart\u201d following the assassination of several senior officials during the war.<\/p>\n

Trump on Mojtaba Khamenei: \u2018A certain bravery there\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked about Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Trump said the Shiite cleric is \u201cpretty badly injured. So there\u2019s a certain bravery there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people, if they were injured that badly, they wouldn\u2019t be talking about, you know, \u2018How are we doing with the United States?\u2019 They\u2019d have other things on their mind,\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA woman holds up an Iranian flag in front of a banner showing a portrait of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a street festival celebrating the Muslim Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, in Tehran, Iran, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

Khamenei has ostensibly issued statements<\/a>, but not been seen or heard publicly, since US-Israeli airstrikes at the very start of the war killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei. Washington believes the new leader is seriously wounded and in hiding, but engaged in the decision-making process to some extent.<\/p>\n

Trump declined to clarify whether he knows Khamenei\u2019s exact location or whether the leader is in Iran, saying, \u201cI don\u2019t want to say whether or not I know where he is\u2026 But there\u2019s a good probability that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

US pushes IAEA resolution demanding answers from Iran<\/p>\n

Alongside the talks with Iran, the US is lobbying other countries on the UN nuclear watchdog\u2019s board of governors to back a draft resolution demanding the Islamic Republic disclose to the agency what happened to its bombed nuclear sites and the enriched uranium stored there.<\/p>\n

The US-drafted text, seen by Reuters on Sunday and circulated ahead of this week\u2019s quarterly meeting of the 35-nation board, risks complicating talks between Washington and Tehran. Iran has typically retaliated against resolutions against it at the International Atomic Energy Agency, escalating its nuclear activities or scaling back cooperation.<\/p>\n

Previous IAEA board resolutions on Iran, submitted by the US, Britain, France and Germany, have passed by wide margins. One adopted in November demanded that Iran inform the agency \u201cwithout delay\u201d about the status of its enriched uranium stock and damaged sites \u2014 something that has yet to happen.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA woman walks past graffiti painted on the wall of the British Embassy consisting of slogans in support of Ayatollah Khamenei and against Israel and Britain which reads in Farsi, \u2018Death to England,\u2019 in Tehran, Iran, on June 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

The US draft says Iran must \u201cprovide the Agency with precise information on nuclear material accountancy and safeguarded nuclear facilities in Iran\u201d and grant \u201call access it requires to verify this information.\u201d Both steps are described as \u201cessential and urgent\u201d and must be taken \u201cwithout delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The text stops short of referring Iran to the UN Security Council, a move some diplomats had said was under consideration. That would have followed up on a June 12, 2025 resolution declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. Israel began bombing Iran\u2019s nuclear sites a day later.<\/p>\n

The US mission to the IAEA declined to comment.<\/p>\n

While circulating a draft does not guarantee it will be formally submitted to the board, which would then vote on it, it signals an intention to do so.<\/p>\n

While strikes destroyed or badly damaged uranium-enrichment facilities, much of Iran\u2019s enriched uranium is believed to have survived. The country was estimated to have about 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) enriched to up to 60% purity \u2014 a short step from roughly 90% weapons grade \u2014 prior to the war.<\/p>\n

That amount would be enough, if further enriched, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMotorbikes drive near the residence where the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shown on a banner, was killed in US and Israeli strikes on February 28, in Tehran, Iran, on June 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s ambassador to the IAEA told reporters on Friday a resolution would only antagonize Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exactly the United States who undermined this cooperation,\u201d he said, referring to the fact the IAEA had access to Iran\u2019s sites until the bombing started.<\/p>\n

Russia and China have opposed all recent resolutions against Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington is \u201cvery close\u201d to reaching a deal with Iran, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[27587,38,48322,42246,34,30723,22365,55,1243],"class_list":["post-149769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","tag-donald-trump","tag-iaea-inspectors","tag-iaea-international-atomic-energy-agency","tag-iran","tag-iran-russia-relations","tag-irans-nuclear-program","tag-russia","tag-united-nations"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116710826822897729","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}