Latest news with #IranDeal
LBCI
3 days ago
- Business
- LBCI
Iran may pause enrichment for US nod on nuclear rights, release of frozen funds, sources tell Reuters
Iran may pause uranium enrichment if the U.S. releases frozen Iranian funds and recognizes Tehran's right to refine uranium for civilian use under a "political deal" that could lead to a broader nuclear accord, two Iranian official sources said. The sources, close to the negotiating team, said on Wednesday a "political understanding with the United States could be reached soon" if Washington accepted Tehran's conditions. One of the sources said the matter "has not been discussed yet" during the talks with the United States. The sources told Reuters that under this arrangement, Tehran would halt uranium enrichment for a year, ship part of its highly enriched stock abroad, or convert it into fuel plates for civilian nuclear purposes. The Iranian sources said Tehran would not agree to dismantling of its nuclear programme or infrastructure or sealing of its nuclear installations as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Instead, they said, Trump must publicly recognize Iran's sovereign right to enrichment as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and authorize a release of Iranian oil revenues frozen by sanctions, including $6 billion in Qatar. "Tehran wants its funds to be transferred to Iran with no conditions or limitations. If that means lifting some sanctions, then it should be done too," the second source said. The sources said the political agreement would give the current nuclear diplomacy a greater chance to yield results by providing more time to hammer out a consensus on hard-to-bridge issues needed for a permanent treaty. "The idea is not to reach an interim deal; it would (rather) be a political agreement to show both sides are seeking to defuse tensions," said the second Iranian source. Reuters
LBCI
20-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Iran reviews proposal for 5th round of nuclear talks
Iran received and is reviewing a proposal for a fifth round of nuclear talks with the United States, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday, according to state media. U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that a new nuclear deal with Tehran was getting very close as the latter was provided with a proposal, adding that Iranians need to "move quickly or something bad is going to happen." Reuters
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Wants a Deal With Iran, but It May Be Weaker Than His Supporters Demand
By every measure, President Trump has made it clear that he wants 'to do a deal' with Iran over its nuclear program and avoid a war, pushing aside Israeli proposals for a mutual military campaign instead. 'I want to make a deal with Iran,'' Mr. Trump said in Saudi Arabia this week. 'If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy, if we're going to make your region and the world a safer place.' His trip to the Gulf Arab states underlined his conviction. When Iran first agreed in 2015 to limit its nuclear program after years of negotiations with six world powers, the Gulf States saw Iran as a dangerous adversary and worked to isolate it. But today, those same Gulf leaders have been making their own rapprochements with Iran and want to avoid further instability and broader conflict in the Middle East, with Gaza still at war. At every stop of Mr. Trump's trip, Arab leaders urged him to find a negotiated settlement with Iran. 'The alternative is terrible' for them, said Ali Vaez, Iran director of the International Crisis Group. 'Iran with a bomb or Iran bombed both have bad consequences for the region,' he added. Reaching a deal with Iran will test the harder-line wing of Mr. Trump's supporters in the Republican Party and whether they will fall in line with what would be a departure from their longstanding demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear program. More than 200 congressional Republicans urged him in a letter this week to stand firm with Iran. The United States and its partners fear that a nuclear-armed Iran could set off an atomic arms race in the Middle East and contribute to instability there, sharply raising the stakes for any miscalculation between rivals. Mr. Trump also brandishes a threat: Unless Iran comes to terms, the United States could attack. 'We're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,' he said on Thursday in Qatar, alluding to military strikes on Iran. 'There's two steps. There's a very, very nice step, and there's a violent step.' Officials and analysts speak positively about progress in the talks, which are being led by Mr. Trump's chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff. The president said on Friday that Mr. Witkoff had given Iran an outline for a deal and pressed Tehran to respond to it. 'They know they have to move quickly,' Mr. Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from the Middle East. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, later denied that it received a 'written proposal from the United States, whether directly or indirectly.' Significant gaps remain between the two sides. Mr. Trump continues to insist that Iran must halt enrichment of uranium, which fuels nuclear power, as well as nuclear weapons. Israel and some of the president's most fervent supporters are pushing for such an outcome. Iran continues to insist that it will not stop enriching uranium altogether and that it has the right to enrichment for civilian purposes under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iranian officials have said recently that they would be willing to stop enrichment at the higher levels used for nuclear weapons, which exceed the requirements for civilian use, and scrap its large stockpile of highly enriched uranium — but not stop enriching entirely. Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, repeated the country's position to NBC News, and Mr. Trump shared the article on Truth Social without comment, perhaps signaling tacit approval. But those concessions were effectively the same as what Iran agreed to in the 2015 deal in return for relief from crippling economic sanctions. Mr. Trump despised that agreement as too much of a giveaway by President Barack Obama and withdrew the United States from it in 2018, resuming sanctions on Iran. Mr. Witkoff is attempting to navigate the complexities of each side's wishes around enrichment, said Mr. Vaez, of the International Crisis Group. 'He is trying to be creative with solutions that are not zero-sum.' Ideas include a long-term freeze on Iranian enrichment under enhanced international inspection while both sides build trust, for example, Mr. Vaez said. Another associated idea would be for Iran to agree to phase out its enrichment program over time if it is assured that it can reliably get nuclear fuel on the global market. That might satisfy Mr. Trump, signaling that Iran had not rejected the idea of ending enrichment at some clear point in the future. The sanctions that have battered Iran and that its leaders want so badly to be lifted could also be removed in phases, experts suggested. American corporate investment in Iran could be designed to enhance longer-term trust and provide a kind of deterrence against another war. But Iran, stung by Mr. Trump's unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from the earlier deal, will want guarantees that the United States will adhere to a new one. Iranian officials seem to believe, not without reason, that Mr. Trump would be better placed to guarantee a deal than a Democrat, especially because it would be bilateral rather than among multiple nations like the 2015 accord. Iranians are likely to take some encouragement from Mr. Trump's announcement this week to lift sanctions against Syria's new leaders despite their terrorist past. Though the president can lift some sanctions on his own, others require lawmakers' approval. 'That's a precedent Iranians will be watching closely, to see if Trump can follow through with Congress,' said Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution. Mr. Trump faces opposition to an Iran deal from within his own camp, particularly neoconservatives on Capitol Hill and elsewhere who cheered his withdrawal from the earlier deal. They have long demanded that Iran agree to complete denuclearization: a ban on all enrichment and the dismantling of its massive nuclear infrastructure. 'Trump is trying to manage expectations at home,' said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Israel also wants Iran's nuclear program destroyed. But Mr. Trump really wants a deal and 'he is likely to settle for less,' Ms. Maloney said, most likely over the objections of some Republicans. 'That's why this is such an important test case for the efficacy of Trump's foreign policy,' she added. 'It will tell us something about the Republican Party and its future foreign policy.' If Mr. Witkoff and the Iranians can agree on the principles of a deal, technical talks to turn that foundation into a final signed agreement could take months and closely involve the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is charged with carrying out the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and does in-country inspections. It was not clear when talks will resume. Iran has lately refloated a 2007 idea of a consortium of Muslim states to do nuclear enrichment, including its longtime rival, Saudi Arabia, which wants to begin its own civilian nuclear enrichment program in cooperation with the United States. Iran would deliver its production of enriched uranium at civilian levels to Saudi Arabia and other group members in return for investment. The region is more likely to be open to the proposal today. But it would breach Mr. Trump's public demand to stop any Iranian enrichment and not address what would happen to Iran's highly enriched uranium. Such an agreement would also make Saudi Arabia and others dependent on Iran, which they are unlikely to embrace without guarantees from the United States or Russia about supplies, should Iran ultimately shirk its commitment.
Asharq Al-Awsat
16-05-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Trump Visits Al Udeid, Says Qatar Will Invest $10 Billion in Air Base
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Qatar will invest $10 billion in the coming years in the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha, the largest US military facility in the Middle East. Speaking at a meeting with business leaders in Qatar, Trump said his trip through the Gulf region could generate $4 trillion. 'This is a record tour. There's never been a tour that will raise—it could be a total of $3.5, $4 trillion. Just in this four or five days,' he said. He described his visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates as a historic trip. Later during a visit to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Thursday, where he spoke to American troops, Trump said, 'We almost lost the Middle East because of the policies of the Joe Biden administration. But we're going to protect the Middle East.' On the nuclear file, Trump revealed that the United States is 'very close to making a deal with Iran,' stating that Tehran has 'somewhat agreed to the terms' of a long-term agreement. He added, 'We want to deal with the Iran problem in a smart way — but not violently.' On the situation in Yemen, Trump said the US is prepared to return to military operations against the Houthis if provoked. 'We're dealing with the Houthis, and I think that's been very successful. But maybe an attack will be launched tomorrow — in which case, we'll go back to the offensive,' he said. Trump then praised US troops stationed at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha. 'You are the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. We have the strongest military in the world,' he said. Trump also touted plans for advanced US warplanes — including the Boeing F-47 announced in March as an update on the F-22 and named in honor of both the incumbent 47th president and the founding year of the Air Force. 'We're going to do an F-55 and I think if we get the right price, we have to get the right price, and that'll be two engines and a super upgrade on the F-35,' Trump said. The US President also commented on his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh. 'I didn't know Syria had been under sanctions for this long,' Trump said.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Oil prices fall as Trump says US 'getting close' to Iran nuclear deal
Oil prices fell as much as 3 percent by Thursday afternoon after President Donald Trump said the US was close to reaching a nuclear accord with Iran. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at $64.6 per barrel by mid-afternoon, while West Texas Intermediate Crude stood at $61.7 per barrel. Trump told reporters in Doha, Qatar, which forms part of a three-day Middle East tour, that the US was 'getting close to having a deal' that would avoid a 'violent step'. During his first term in office, Trump withdrew from an agreement severely limiting Iran's ability to enrich uranium and slashing its nuclear fuel stockpiles. The US instead imposed major sanctions as part of a 'maximum pressure' campaign aimed at restricting Iran's support for armed groups in the Middle East and curtailing its ballistic missile program. A new deal could see significant sanctions lifted on Iranian energy exports, flooding the international oil market with even greater supply. OPEC+ member countries announced plans earlier this month to boost oil production in June by 411,000 barrels per day, taking the combined increases for April, May and June to 960,000 bpd. And just yesterday, the US Energy Administration revealed that US crude inventories surprisingly increased by 3.5 million barrels last week. This sparked a drop in oil prices, which had surged early this week after the US and China revealed they would cut their reciprocal tariffs on each other for 90 days. Trump's remarks badly hit shares in oil supermajors, with BP and Shell falling 3.9 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, while mid-cap firm Harbour Energy had a 1.8 percent decline. The overall UK markets have performed comparatively better today than the oil giants, although the FTSE 100 was just 0.2 percent up at 8,595.8 points by 3pm and the FTSE 250 was flat at 20,816.1 points. However, Asian markets suffered from much weaker sentiment, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closing 0.8 percent lower at 23,453.2, Seoul's KOSPI 0.7 percent down at 23,453 and Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropping 1 percent to 37,775.51. And in Europe, France's CAC 40 was down 0.2 percent, or 17.5 points, at 7,819.3, while Germany's DAX had flatlined at 23,553. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: 'The euphoria from Monday's US-China truce has faded, and now markets are waiting to see if further deals materialize from here.' Having already struck a trade deal with the UK, Trump has now claimed India offered to remove all tariffs on imported US goods. He made the comments in Qatar whilst referencing Apple's intentions to manufacture the majority of iPhones in India instead of China. Many large companies have been scaling back their forecasts in response to the unpredictability resulting from Trump's tariff policies. Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.
