Report: Trump Sends Proposed Agreement Text to Iran After Modifications

SadaNews - Officials told CNN that U.S. President Donald Trump has reintroduced modifications to the proposed agreement with Iran, following a meeting with his advisors on Friday, leading to an extension of negotiations between the two sides for an additional week. The specific nature of the modifications requested by Trump was not immediately clear, but officials stated that the president insisted on using stricter language regarding Iran's nuclear commitments and Tehran's pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also expressed concern about the financial facilitation that could be offered to Iran under the agreement, wary of any comparisons that might be made with the "cash shipments" delivered to Iran as part of the nuclear deal during Obama's administration, which he deemed weak. The latest series of proposed modifications comes after Trump announced a week ago that the agreement "is largely completed" and indicated that the end of the war is near. Since then, U.S. officials have spoken about progress towards reaching an agreement that ends hostilities, reopens the strait, and initiates more detailed discussions regarding the Iranian nuclear program. However, even after Trump announced that he would make a "final decision" during the meeting on Friday and shared some terms of the agreement on social media, the two-hour session ended without a decisive outcome. While Trump claimed in his message that the United States would seize Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and destroy it, Iran has repeatedly affirmed that it does not discuss details of its nuclear program in the current negotiations. Trump also claimed that there had been no discussions about the release of funds as part of the agreement, a condition that Iran says must be included in any deal. It remains unclear how these contradictions will be resolved as the debate over the agreement's wording continues. Axios and The New York Times had previously reported on the modifications requested by Trump.