Trump: Iran has agreed to guarantees on nuclear program

2026-05-31 15:21:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US President Donald Trump said Iran has given guarantees that it will not develop nuclear weapons, while declaring that Washington is approaching a "very good deal" to end the three-month war with Tehran.

Trump's comments, made in an interview with Fox News aired on May 30, came amid reports that US officials have sent Tehran a tougher peace proposal.

Meanwhile, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader accused Trump of "betraying diplomacy for the third time" and presenting what he called "excessive demands" in negotiations.

The ongoing exchanges between the parties highlight the difficulties the US administration has faced in trying to end a conflict that has shaken global energy markets and the world economy, and emphasize Iran's persistent rejection of Washington's demands.

The fate of Iran's nuclear program remains one of the main obstacles to reaching a peace agreement.

Washington, along with its ally Israel, have sought broad restrictions to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Tehran, which has enriched uranium to levels close to those needed for nuclear weapons, insists its atomic activities are for civilian purposes.

US and Iranian negotiators have exchanged several proposals in recent weeks. The New York Times and the website Axios reported on May 30 that Trump had returned a new framework to Tehran containing “tougher” conditions.

Besides the issue of Iran's nuclear program, the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- which has been virtually closed by Iran for weeks -- remains the other main point of contention.

In the Fox interview, conducted on May 28, Trump said that Iran had agreed not to possess nuclear weapons.

"The only guarantee I need is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They have agreed to that and that was very interesting ," he said.

Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran on April 8, although both sides have occasionally carried out small-scale attacks: Iran against US allies in the Persian Gulf region and Washington against Iranian targets domestically.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington is prepared to resume strikes on Iran if ongoing negotiations do not lead to an agreement.

Speaking at a defense and security forum in Singapore on May 30, Hegseth said the US was "more than capable" of resuming strikes if necessary and that its military reserves were "more than adequate" for such operations.

Experts have warned that the United States is facing shortages of several key weapons systems and that it will take months to rebuild its stockpiles.

'Excessive demands'

On the Iranian side, an adviser to the supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, accused Trump of "betraying diplomacy for the third time" by continuing the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports and making what he called "excessive demands" in negotiations.

In a post on X on May 30, Mohsen Rezaei said that Trump's stance at the negotiating table shows "that he is not inclined towards negotiations and is pursuing other objectives."

Iranian state media, citing an "unofficial draft," reported that the proposed memorandum of understanding included an agreement to release $12 billion in frozen assets.

"The US has pledged to give Iran full access to $12 billion of its assets within 60 days, so that these resources can be transferred and spent in banks of Iran's chosen destinations without restrictions," state television said.

The White House had previously described a similar report by Iranian television as a "fabrication."

The fate of uranium

A key issue is the fate of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a nuclear weapon.

Kazakhstan has signaled that it is open to hosting Iranian stocks of 60 percent enriched uranium if a future agreement is reached between Tehran and Washington, according to a Financial Times report citing the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.

This proposal is being discussed as a possible confidence-building measure, aimed at supporting efforts to revive nuclear diplomacy between Iran and the United States.

Meanwhile, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on May 29 that its forces operating in the Gulf of Oman had enforced blockade measures by neutralizing a Gambian-flagged ship that was attempting to sail towards an Iranian port.

"A US aircraft neutralized the ship by launching a Hellfire missile into its engine room ," the CENTCOM statement said, adding that US forces had issued more than 20 warnings before taking military action.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported that several Americans suffered minor injuries from debris that fell after Iran's May 29 drone attack on a military base in Kuwait. CENTCOM did not comment on the report. /REL