WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that negotiations with Iran are progressing “very well” and claimed Tehran has agreed to allow American personnel, working alongside Iranian authorities, to enter the country and recover buried nuclear material once the conflict ends.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said recovering the material would be difficult but remained a priority.
“It’s very, very hard to get it… but nevertheless, I want to get at it,” he said.
Trump also maintained that the US-Iran ceasefire, which took effect in early April, remains intact despite recent regional tensions. He suggested that ongoing negotiations could produce an interim agreement within days.
“The negotiation itself has gone very well — actually, very well — even if it happens, and it might not happen, but if it happens, it could happen like over the weekend,” Trump said.
The US president added that Iranian officials had altered their position several times during the discussions but indicated that plans for a future joint operation remained under consideration.
However, Iran offered a sharply different assessment of the talks. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there had been “no tangible progress” in efforts to end the regional conflict.
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Araghchi told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen television that communication channels with Washington remain open, but negotiations have yet to yield meaningful results.
“Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process,” he said.
Araghchi also warned that any Israeli military strike on Beirut would have serious consequences.
“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war. Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that Iran’s naval forces had targeted a command centre aboard a US destroyer in the Gulf of Oman, alleging the action was a response to American violations in the Strait of Hormuz and hostile conduct toward Iranian vessels.
The claim was swiftly rejected by the US Central Command, which denied the report in a statement posted on X.
On the domestic front, Trump faced political opposition in Washington after the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of US forces involved in the Iran conflict.
Democratic lawmakers described the vote as a direct rebuke of the administration’s military policy.
“This is a loud and unambiguous message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: it’s time to end his deeply unpopular and illegal war of choice in Iran,” Democrats said in a post on X.
