Trump Says Iran Has Agreed To Stop Backing Regional Proxies Like Hamas And Hezbollah
President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran has agreed to end its support of regional proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah as part of a broader agreement to end the war, according to a new report.
In an interview with CBS News, Trump also said Iran has “agreed to everything,” including giving up its enriched uranium stockpile.
“We’ll go down and get it with them, and then we’ll take it. We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better. We would have done it the other way if we had to,” Trump said when describing how the uranium would be retrieved. He went on to claim the stockpile will be taken to the U.S.
The remarks are in line with other interviews given by Trump on Friday. He also told Bloomberg that Tehran has has agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely and won’t receive frozen funds from the U.S.
Talk about the unfreezing of funds were reported by Axios, which claimed that parties were negotiating the release of $20 billion in exchange for Tehran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium.
The outlet detailed that Iran has about 2,000 kilograms of enriched uranium buried in underground facilities bombed by the U.S. last year, including 450 kilograms enriched to 60%, close to weapons grade.
Iran has not confirmed Trump’s remarks, but Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open for the remaining period” of the ceasefire with the U.S. following the one announced between Lebanon and Israel.
Trump celebrated the development in a social media post: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!” he said.
The ceasefire in question was also announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday. It is set to last 10 days and involve negotiations between the countries.
The development follows a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese officials in the U.S. on Tuesday, where both parties agreed on the need to “liberate” the latter country from Hezbollah.
Trump suggested both parties will meet during the weekend to finalize the deal. He also told Axios he expects a deal to be announced “in a day or two.”