politics
Iran Says It Maintains Longstanding Religious Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons, Calls for Release of Frozen Assets
President Donald Trump stated late Saturday that Iran has agreed not to develop nuclear weapons. He also identified reopening the Strait of Hormuz as a key condition for any final agreement.
May 31, 5:59 AM·2m read9 sources
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U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday that he had secured guarantees from Iran that it would not develop nuclear weapons. "The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They've agreed to that, and it was very interesting," Trump told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview broadcast on her Fox News program, according to multiple outlets including AFP and The Hindu.
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Trump added that he is in "no hurry" to sign a deal with Iran. He listed stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons and reopening the Strait of Hormuz as priorities. Reports indicated that Trump had sent a revised proposal back to Tehran, with any changes potentially delaying a formal agreement.
Iran has demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before entering substantive talks on its nuclear program. According to the alternative reading of the same facts drawn from the reporting, Tehran is simply restating a long-held religious prohibition on nuclear weapons while insisting on the return of its own frozen assets as a precondition for any negotiations.
The vessels' operators have not been publicly identified in the reporting on recent maritime incidents. No publicly released evidence has documented certain contested claims regarding recent strikes. Iran's foreign ministry has not commented in the provided sources on Trump's specific characterization of the guarantees.
Daily strikes throughout Iran and the Gulf stopped after a temporary ceasefire in April. Bursts of armed conflict have continued since then. The United States has not confirmed an incident involving a U.S. military drone near Iranian waters. U.S. forces struck the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Iran responded with retaliatory fire.
Israel's military issued evacuation warnings for more villages in south Lebanon. The move followed an announcement that Israeli forces had advanced more than 30 kilometres into the country. Israel's military confirmed expanded ground operations against Hezbollah past the Litani river. A truce between Israel and Hezbollah began on April 17 but has not been observed by either side.
