US president says he’s OK with Iran suspending nuke enrichment for 20 years Calls Iran ceasefire a favour to Pakistan Says Xi doesn’t want a war over Taiwan Iranian FM says Tehran has ‘no trust’ in US BRICS ministers fail to issue joint statement over Mideast conflict.
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/NEW DELHI – US President Donald Trump said his patience with Iran was running out and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed that Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but China gave no indication it would weigh in.
As he flew back from Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Xi, Trump said he was considering whether to lift US sanctions on Chinese oil companies buying Iranian oil. China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.
His comments shed no light on whether Beijing might use its influence with Tehran to end a conflict it said should never have started. “I’m not asking for any favours because, when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter on his plane home whether Xi had made any firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the strait.
“We’ve wiped out their (Iran’s) armed forces, essentially. We may have to do a little cleanup work.”
Xi did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry issued a blunt statement outlining Beijing’s frustration with the Iran war.
Trump also said that the ceasefire with Iran was made as a “favour” to Pakistan and at the request of other countries. “We really did the ceasefire at the request of other nations, I would not have been in favour of it. We did it as a favour to Pakistan, they are terrific people, the field marshal, the prime minister,” he said while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return trip from a state visit to China.
“This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry said.
Iran effectively shut the strait to most shipping in response to US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28, causing an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies. The US paused its attacks on Iran last month but began a blockade of its ports. Tehran said it would not unblock the strait until the US ended its blockade. Trump has threatened to attack Iran again if it does not agree a deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had received messages from the US indicating Washington was willing to continue talks. “We hope that, with the advancement of negotiations, we will reach a good conclusion so that the Strait of Hormuz can be completely secured and we can expedite the normalisation of traffic through the strait,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that the topic of uranium enrichment “is currently not on the agenda of discussions or negotiations,” but will be addressed in later stages, according to the semi-official news agency Tasnim.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the first sentence of Iran’s latest proposal was “unacceptable,” claiming that Iran has backtracked on its stance regarding its nuclear program.
The first sentence was an “unacceptable sentence, because they have fully agreed no nuclear, and if they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest,” he said, adding that he is unsatisfied with the “level of guarantee from them.”
He said that Iran had agreed to give up its “nuclear dust” – referring to Tehran’s enriched uranium – but “then they took it back,” adding that they would agree to it eventually in his view.
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would accept a 20-year suspension of the uranium enrichment at the heart of Iran’s rogue nuclear program if Tehran gave a “real” guarantee, in an apparent shift from his previous demand that Iran permanently halt its program and his pledge to ensure Iran can never attain nuclear weapons.
Trump made the comment when speaking with reporters on Air Force One as he departed China following his two-day summit with President Xi Jinping.
Asked whether he had “rejected the latest proposal from Iran,” he replied, “Well, I looked at it, and if I don’t like the first sentence, I just throw it away.”
Pressed on what that first sentence stated, Trump said, “An unacceptable sentence, because they have fully agreed no nuclear. And if they have any nuclear of any form [in their proposal], I don’t read the rest of…”
The reporter interrupted, “So 20 years is not enough for you, it’s gotta be a permanent…?”
Trump cut in: “No, 20 years is enough, but the level of guarantee from them, in other words, it’s gotta be a real 20 years…”
The president went on to complain that Iran has also now said it cannot remove its nuclear “dust,” referring to the regime’s underground stockpile of 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium: “They said that they can’t remove it, because they don’t have the technology to remove it, they don’t have the type of tractors” and that only China and the US have the technology to remove it from the “obliterated” nuclear facilities. He said Iran had agreed to have the stockpile removed, but then reneged.
While Trump indicated there was flexibility in the US position, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran has “no trust” in the US and would only be interested in negotiating with Washington if it was serious.
Araghchi told reporters in New Delhi that “contradictory messages” had raised Iranian doubts about the Americans’ real intentions, adding that the Pakistani mediation process had not failed but was in “difficulty.”
Iran is trying to keep the latest ceasefire to give diplomacy a chance, but is also prepared to go back to fighting, Araghchi said.
“What was said that the United States rejected Iran’s proposal or Iran’s response to the American proposal was a few days ago, when Mr. Trump tweeted and said that it was unacceptable,” Araghchi said.
The two-day BRICS meeting concluded without a joint statement because of “differing views among some members” on the situation in the Middle East, host India said.
The differences highlighted the challenge of maintaining unity within the bloc as it seeks to expand its influence.
RICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. Divisions among members have become more visible during the Iran war, particularly between Iran and the UAE — which Iran repeatedly attacked with missiles and drones throughout the war.
The Chinese leader doesn’t want a war over Taiwan and that “nothing’s changed” in the U.S. policy toward it. The president also told reporters that the pair didn’t discuss tariffs.
The president told Fox News he “didn’t underestimate” Tehran prior to going to war–and can destroy Iran’s infrastructure in two days if desired. Earlier, Trump said both he and Xi think Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon and want that conflict to end.
