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US President Donald Trump suggested that he might be OK with some 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried beneath Iranian nuclear facilities that were targeted by US military strikes last year remaining entombed under those sites.
But speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump reverted to a more definitive tone about the US taking control of the uranium as part of any potential peace agreement with Iran. "We will get it. We don't need it. We don't want it," Trump said. "We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it."
Last week, Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity he'd "just feel better if I got" the uranium, but that "it's more for public relations than it is for anything else."
Iran said the latest US proposal had partly narrowed the gap between the two sides, though remarks by the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on retaining Tehran's uranium stockpile, along with a dispute over tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, clouded hopes for a breakthrough.
Tehran is reviewing a draft submitted by Washington that “has narrowed the gaps to some extent,” the semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency reported.
Oil prices rose on Friday after three straight sessions of losses as investors reassessed expectations around negotiations between the United States and Iran. Brent crude futures for July rose 1.9% to $104.52 a barrel in early Asian trade, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for June gained 1.5% to $97.81 a barrel.
Republicans struggled to find the votes to dismiss legislation that would compel President Donald Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran, delaying planned votes on the matter into June.
The House had scheduled a vote on a war powers resolution, brought by Democrats, that would rein in Trump's military campaign. But as it became clear that Republicans would not have the numbers to defeat the bill, GOP leaders declined to hold a vote on it.
Republicans are also working to ensure they have the votes to dismiss another war powers resolution in the Senate that advanced to a final vote earlier this week, when four GOP senators supported the resolution and three others were absent from the vote.
Conflicting reports circulated on Friday over the status of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, with claims of a near-finalised deal rapidly contradicted by Iranian officials — even as President Donald Trump warned Iran that "something very drastic" will happen.
A Reuters report that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei directed Iran not to send its near-weapons-grade uranium abroad pushed oil prices higher, even as earlier signals pointed to progress. President Donald Trump then opposed efforts by Iran and Oman to create a permanent toll system through the Strait of Hormuz, telling reporters: “We want it open, we want it free, we don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway. They are not charging tolls right now.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House, US President Donald Trump reverted to a more definitive tone about the US taking control of the uranium as part of any potential peace agreement with Iran. "We will get it. We don't need it. We don't want it," Trump said. "We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it."
Last week, Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity he'd "just feel better if I got" the uranium, but that "it's more for public relations than it is for anything else."
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