Major victory for Trump as Iranian Supreme Leader agrees to surrender uranium
American negotiators have reported back that Iranian officials have agreed ‘in principle’ to give up their country’s uranium, as the deal continues to hang in the balance
Donald Trump broke the news of the pending deal yesterday (file)(Image: Getty)
US officials have reported Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has agreed “in principle” to give up his country’s highly enriched uranium.
“They will open up the strait in exchange for us lifting the blockade, and they will agree in principle to dispose of the highly enriched uranium , but then there’s a question about how precisely to do that,” a senior Trump administration official said, New York Post reports.
The official added: “We feel quite confident that the supreme leader has signed off on the broad template. It comes as Donald Trump said today (May 24) the blockade of Iran’s ports will remain “in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed”.
Yesterday the US President, 79, broadcast the ‘nearing’ of an agreement between US and Iran, saying a deal was “largely negotiated”. If it is the case Iran has agreed to give up its uranium, it would represent a major victory for Trump given it was one of the aims underpinning Operation Fury which launched earlier this year.
Trump has floated destroying the roughly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium that Iran possesses. He also mentioned the possibility the Chinese government may assist Iran to help dig out the buried nuclear material and transport it out of the country.
The US official added: “No one disputes that the stockpiled enriched material will be disposed of. It’s a question about how. And then simultaneously, while we’re figuring out that question of how, we’re going to have this thing where the straits open, the blockade is lifted and we get the economy some breathing room.”
Today Trump added that while his country’s relationship with Iran is becoming “much more professional”, Tehran “must understand, however, that they cannot develop or procure a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb”.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has insisted that Iran is not hellbent on getting nuclear weapons, but vowed that the country’s “negotiating team will not compromise when it counts to our country’s dignity and sovereignty.”
“We are ready to assure the world that we are not seeking nuclear weapons. We are not seeking instability in the region,” Pezeshkian told reporters.
