A two-hour meeting at the White House Situation Room on Saturday concluded with no clear progress as U.S President Donald Trump walked out without any decision on a potential deal to end the Iran war.
A senior administration official told the New York Times that issues such as unfreezing of funds for Iran are still a point of debate.
A White House official said in a statement, “The Situation Room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”
Ahead of the meeting, Trump had posted on Truth Social that Iran would clear mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States would lift its naval blockade. He also wrote that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be unearthed and destroyed.
Trump responded to reports that Tehran was demanding “the immediate release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets”, asserting that no money would be exchanged until further notice.
Iran’s side of the story
Spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baghaei said that no agreement was finalised with the United States and that the negotiations were still ongoing. Baghei spoke to state-run IRIB TV in a telephone interview, stating that Tehran’s current focus in the negotiations “is on ending the war”.
“We have no talk on details of the issues pertaining to Iran’s uranium enrichment or enriched uranium at this stage,” he said.
Baghaei also told IRIB TV that future management of the Strait of Hormuz “concerns only Iran and Oman”. He said Tehran “said goodbye to the language of ‘must’ 47 years ago”.
Iran’s lead negotiatior Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on social media, “We do not gain concessions through dialogue, but through missiles.” He explained the Islamic Republic had “no trust in guarantees or words” and that “no step will be taken before the other side acts first.”
Ghalibaf’s statement came after both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire that was declared on April 8.
Head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission Ebrahim Azizi posted on social media on Friday that Iran “sets the terms: cash for cash, credit for credit, nothing for nothing.”
