Trump says Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium supply

• Trump claimed Iran agreed to hand over enriched uranium and a peace deal was near, aiming to end the Middle East war.
• A US-brokered truce between Israel and Lebanon was announced, with leaders expected at the White House soon for talks.
• Despite progress, tensions remain high with US threats of airstrikes and sanctions, countered by Iran's warnings over shipping.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on April 16 that Washington and Tehran were “very close” to a peace deal and insisted that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium, a key sticking point in negotiations.

The United States had earlier threatened to resume air strikes on the Islamic republic and maintain a naval blockade of its ports if Tehran refused to accept a deal to solve the conflict that broke out on Feb 28.

At the same time, a ceasefire came into effect between Israel and Lebanon – a 10-day truce – with Mr Trump saying he expected the two countries’ leaders at the White House within “four or five days.”

Hezbollah has not said if it recognises the ceasefire – but a senior figure said it would respect it if Israeli attacks on the militants stopped.

But Israel’s army said it was striking Hezbollah rocket launchers after fire from Lebanon shortly before the ceasefire was due to begin.

The prime ministers for both countries welcomed the ceasefire, which came days after the US and Iran agreed to a separate truce and as Pakistan pursued diplomatic efforts to arrange a new round of talks between foes Washington and Tehran.

On April 16, Pakistan’s powerful army chief Asim Munir met Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who led the Iranian delegation at the first round of talks last week, which ended without a deal.

Iran’s UN ambassador later said Tehran was “cautiously optimistic” about peace talks with the United States, expressing hope for a “meaningful outcome”.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on April 16: “If Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy.”

Mr Trump later told reporters that “there’s a very good chance we’re going to make a deal” with Tehran.

“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust,” he said, using his name for the enriched uranium stockpile that the US says could be used to build nuclear weapons.

Mr Trump has offered no details about any transfer, and Iran has given no public indication it would surrender its stockpile.

‘Indisputable’ right to uranium

Mr Trump has insisted that any deal with Iran must permanently bar the Islamic republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.

He launched the war claiming that Tehran was rushing to complete an atomic bomb, an assertion not backed by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Washington has reportedly sought a 20-year suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, while Tehran has proposed suspending nuclear activity for five years – an offer US officials rejected.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Iran insisted on March 15 that its right to enrich uranium was “indisputable”, although the level of enrichment was “negotiable”.

Also on April 16, the US House of Representatives rejected a Democratic effort to curb Mr Trump’s authority to wage war in Iran, with lawmakers wary of rising costs, an unclear endgame and the risk of a wider war.

‘An abyss’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had told reporters on April 15 that further talks between the US and Iran “would very likely” be in the Pakistani capital.

Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said no date had been set for the next round of talks.

US Vice-President J.D. Vance, who led the first round, has said Iran is being offered a “grand bargain” to end the war and address the decades-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said Iran was “standing at a historic crossroads” and not pursuing a deal “leads to an abyss”.

Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s crude oil normally flows, has been disrupted by Iranian forces since the US-Israeli offensive began, and is now the focus of the US blockade.

Around 2100 GMT (5am in Singapore on April 17), Brent North Sea Crude had risen 3.24 per cent to US$98.01.

Washington has sought to turn the screws on Tehran with a blockade of its ports, with US Central Command claiming to have “completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea”.

CENTCOM said it had already turned back 13 vessels that tried to sail out of Iranian ports.

Keeping up the pressure, the United States slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s oil industry on April 15, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said targeted “regime elites”.

Unless Washington relents, Iran’s armed forces “will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea,” said the head of the Iranian military’s central command centre, Commander Ali Abdollahi.

The military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei also warned that Iran would sink American ships in the strait if the US decides to “police” the key shipping channel. AFP