WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump met top aides on Friday to make a “final determination” on a framework for extending a ceasefire with Iran, but the White House talks concluded without clarity on the next steps, and Tehran insisted no final deal had been reached.
Friday’s meeting was held in the White House Situation Room, a facility used to manage major national security and foreign policy crises.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump said he was looking to make a “final determination.” A senior administration official later said the roughly two-hour meeting with national security aides had concluded without a decision.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump would only approve an agreement that meets his key conditions and prevents Iran from advancing its nuclear programme.
An Iranian state media report also rebutted several key elements of Trump’s characterisation of the deal, with sources calling his remarks a “mixture of truth and lies.”
US sources had told AFP the deal was waiting on Trump’s sign-off following weeks of halting negotiations over a conflict that has engulfed the Middle East and shaken the global economy.
“President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines,” a White House official told AFP.
“Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” the official added.
Trump had announced the meeting in a lengthy social media post, reiterating long-held demands that Iran agree never to develop nuclear weapons and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei pushed back, telling state media that the Islamic Republic “said goodbye to the language of ‘must’ 47 years ago.”
Exchanges of messages were continuing, he added, but “no final agreement has been reached yet.”
In a phone call with the Emir of Qatar, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to achieve a “dignified framework” to end the war, according to state news agency IRNA.
In his post, Trump said Tehran would remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz and end its blockade of the waterway with “no tolls,” while the US would lift its parallel blockade of Iranian ports.
The two countries would also coordinate on removing and destroying Iran’s enriched uranium, he said, adding that “no money will be exchanged, until further notice.”
Iran’s Fars news agency, however, cited sources as saying Tehran was demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets” before moving to the next phase of negotiations.
On the toll-free reopening of Hormuz, the sources said “no such clause appears in the text of the agreement,” while Trump’s comment on destroying Iran’s nuclear material is fundamentally baseless.
Baqaei also told state TV there were currently “no negotiations” taking place on Iran’s nuclear program, as Iran’s top diplomat suggested the US was holding up a deal with its approach to the talks.
Hopes of an agreement had risen on Thursday after US officials voiced optimism about the diplomatic progress.
Energy markets have whipsawed this week as investors parse the chances of an agreement that could potentially resume normal shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Washington and Tehran have accused each other of violating the truce in and around the strait as recently as this week, with US strikes on the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas countered by retaliatory Iranian fire.
Iranian state TV said Friday that 24 ships had transited the strait in the past 24 hours, in coordination with the Revolutionary Guards and the foreign ministry.
But it warned that “ships from hostile countries face a severe response” from Iran’s military.
