Iran has agreed in principle to dispose of highly-enriched uranium in negotiations with the U.S., although a deal likely won’t be signed this weekend, a senior Trump administration official said Sunday morning.
The official said the U.S. believes Iran’s supreme leader has approved the template for a deal, but a final agreement still needs to be made before anything is signed.
The U.S. wants Iran to commit to disposing of highly enriched uranium and to resolving other nuclear issues, the official said. The official said the administration believes this is a better deal than the 2015 deal agreed upon under former President Barack Obama, which allowed nuclear enrichment up to a certain level.
Officials were still working through details of the mechanism for how the uranium would be disposed of with the people who have been empowered by the supreme leader to negotiate.
Neither side disputes that stockpiled enriched material will be disposed of, it’s a question of how at this point, the official said.
As a condition of the deal, the U.S. would lift its blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports. There would be coordination between U.S. Central Command and Gulf countries to ensure ships can pass safely, but that coordination should not be understood as a tolling system, the official said.
Vice President JD Vance, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have been involved in the negotiations. The U.S. is trying to involve every Middle Eastern ally, the official said.
Mr. Trump said Saturday that the peace deal is “largely negotiated,” but he posted on social media one day later that he told his representatives “not to rush into a deal” and “time is on our side.”
