President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed to permanently forgo nuclear weapons as part of a potential accord, even as his administration transmitted a revised, more stringent counterproposal to Tehran and skirmishes persisted along fragile ceasefire lines.
“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They’ve agreed to that,” Trump said in a Fox News interview Saturday with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. The White House offered no evidence, and Tehran has yet to publicly confirm any such commitment.
The comments come as Trump pursues a dual-track strategy of pressure and diplomacy aimed at ending hostilities that have disrupted global energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, a chokepoint for about a fifth of world oil supply, has been effectively closed by competing U.S. and Iranian blockades, contributing to elevated crude prices.
The New York Times and Axios reported Saturday that Trump has sent a tougher framework to Iran, though details of the new terms remain unclear. The move risks prolonging talks that both sides have signaled for weeks were nearing a conclusion.
Trump has cast Iran’s permanent nuclear renunciation and the reopening of the strait as his top priorities. Iran has pushed back, demanding the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before substantive nuclear negotiations can proceed. Iranian media dismissed as “baseless” Trump’s claim that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile would be destroyed.
Tehran has also insisted that any broader regional pact must include Lebanon, where Israeli forces are expanding ground operations. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday accused Israel of a “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment.”
Trump struck a less urgent tone in the interview, walking back earlier suggestions of an imminent breakthrough. “I’m in no hurry,” he said. “Slowly but surely we’re getting, I think, what we want and if we don’t get what we want, we’re going to end in a different way.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at a defense summit in Asia, echoed that posture, saying the U.S. remains “more than capable” of resuming full-scale war if needed.
A temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire brokered by Pakistan in April has failed to stop low-level fighting. U.S. forces struck the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas earlier this week, drawing retaliatory fire. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have downed a U.S. military drone near its territorial waters, a report Washington hasn’t confirmed.
On the Strait of Hormuz, Trump posted on social media that under any deal Iran would charge “no tolls” on transiting ships. But Iran’s Fars news agency, citing sources, said no such clause exists in the current text. Separately, Iran’s ISNA reported that parliament would soon approve a plan asserting Iranian sovereignty and management over the strait.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military confirmed Sunday it was expanding its ground offensive past the Litani River toward the Beaufort Ridge. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday forces had advanced more than 30 kilometers into the country. A truce between Israel and Hezbollah that began April 17 has never held, with near-daily raids and rocket fire. Israel and Lebanon began direct talks in April; a fourth round is expected next week.
