Trump says Iran has proposal from US on its nuclear program
Araghchi: Tehran ready to ‘build trust, offer transparency’
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on.
Trump’s remarks represent the first time he’s acknowledged an American proposal is with Tehran after four rounds of negotiations between US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Negotiations have gotten into the “expert” level — meaning the two sides are trying to see if they can reach any agreement on the details of any possible deal. But one major sticking point remains Iran’s enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration insists the Islamic Republic must give up.
Trump made the comment aboard Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates, the last stop on his three-nation tour of the Middle East that also included Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
At nearly every event he attended in the region, he insisted that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb — something American intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing.
A reporter asked Trump: “On Iran, has the US given them a formal proposal? Has Steve Witkoff handed that over?”
“They have a proposal,” Trump responded. “But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”
Speaking on a visit to Qatar Thursday, Trump said the United States was “getting close” to a deal with Iran that would avert military action.
“We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran,” he said.
Trump has said he presented Iran’s leadership with an “olive branch”, adding that it was an offer that would not last forever.
He further threatened to impose “massive maximum pressure”, including driving Iranian oil exports to zero if talks failed.
On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran did not have any proposal from the Americans yet.
Conflicting statements
Araghchi also criticized what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy. Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later began saying that all Iranian enrichment must stop.
Iran’s top diplomat also stressed that none of the country’s nuclear facilities will be dismantled.
“Defending the rights of the Iranian people in the nuclear field, including [uranium] enrichment, is one of these principles and rights of the people that we will not compromise on, neither in the media nor at the negotiation table. This is the right of the Iranian people, and no one can deny it,” Araghchi said.
He reiterated that Tehran is ready to “build trust and offer transparency” regarding its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions.
US companies in Iran
Araghchi reiterated that Tehran has no objection to US companies operating in the country, including in the oil and gas sector.
“We have no ban on the economic presence of American companies in Iran,” Araghchi said, attributing the lack of US business activity to primary sanctions imposed by Washington.
“This ban has been imposed by the United States itself,” he said.
“If American companies wish to invest in Iran’s economy, the US must lift its own primary sanctions.”
Iranian and American officials have been in Oman and Rome for the negotiations, always mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations.