Iran’s Fars news agency cited informed sources Friday as saying US President Donald Trump’s latest comments on a potential deal to end the Mideast war were a “mixture of truth and lies”.
“Trump claimed that Iran was obligated to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, even though no such clause appears in the text of the agreement,” Fars said.
On his assertion that Washington and Tehran would coordinate on destroying Iran’s enriched uranium, Fars said: “Well-informed sources emphasised that not only does this not appear in the memorandum of understanding, but this claim is fundamentally baseless.”
They added the destruction of Iran’s nuclear material is also not included.
The sources said Iran is demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets”, and warned that “until this payment is made, Iran will not move to the next phase of negotiations”.
On Lebanon, the sources reiterated Tehran’s call for a “complete ceasefire, in line with Hezbollah’s demands”, adding that any violation of that ceasefire would trigger “immediate retaliation”.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform earlier Friday to say he was preparing to make a final decision on whether or not to strike a peace deal with Iran, covering several key sticking points in negotiations.
“Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb. The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,” he said.
Trump also specified that enriched uranium stockpiles in Iran “will be unearthed by the United States… in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED”.
Reports have suggested Iran has demanded financial compensation for the war that began on February 28 with US and Israeli air raids, including the release of assets previously frozen by Washington, and that the White House has floated the idea of investments.
But Trump said “no money will be exchanged, until further notice”.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Omani counterpart in a call that reaching a deal with the United States to end the Middle East war depended on Washington dropping its “excessive demands”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
