Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran
DUBAI (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.
“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.
“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said.
Top Iranian official says Tehran would forgo highly enriched uranium in nuclear deal with Trump
Iran is ready to sign a nuclear deal with certain conditions with President Donald Trump in exchange for lifting economic sanctions, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader told NBC News on Wednesday.
Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is one of the most senior Iranian officials to speak publicly about the ongoing discussions.
He said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.
Asked if Iran would agree to sign an agreement today if those conditions were met, Shamkhani said, “Yes.”
This indicates Iran is stepping down from any pretention of being hegemon in the Middle East. This is a fundamental aspect of control of the Middle East shifting to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), away from either Iran or Israel. Trump has almost succeeded in helping raise the entire region above the fray, moving it toward at least better conditions if not a lasting peace. ABN
American Buddhist Net 