President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.

“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.

“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this … there [are] two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said.

However, an Iranian source familiar with the negotiations said there were still gaps to bridge in the talks with the US. Oil prices fell by about $2 on Thursday on expectations of a US-Iran nuclear deal that could result in sanctions easing.

Talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear program ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations expected, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.

The Trump administration gave Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal during the fourth round of negotiations on Sunday, a US official and two other sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Axios.

But a senior Iranian official said Tehran had not received any fresh proposal from the United States to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, adding that Iran would never compromise on its right to enrich uranium on its soil.

Though Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the dispute, they remain divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new deal and avert future military action.

In an interview with NBC News published on Wednesday, an adviser to Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran was willing to agree to a deal with the US in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Ali Shamkhani, the adviser, said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons and getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, NBC reported.

However, the senior Iranian official told Reuters that “the idea of sending enriched uranium above 5 percent is not new and has always been part of negotiations with the US.”

“It is a complex and technical issue and depends on the other party’s readiness to effectively and verifiably lift sanctions on Iran,” the official said.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly said that among Tehran’s red lines was reducing the amount of highly enriched uranium stockpile to a level below what was agreed under Iran‘s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers, which Trump ditched in 2018.

‘RED LINE’

US officials have publicly stated that Iran should halt uranium enrichment, a stance Iranian officials have called a “red line” asserting they will not give up what they view as Iran‘s right as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). However, they have indicated a willingness to reduce the level of enrichment.

Iran‘s clerical establishment is ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment, Iranian authorities have said, but in return Tehran wants the lifting of crippling sanctions imposed since 2018 and also watertight guarantees that Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact.

Iranian sources, close to the negotiation team, said that while Iran is prepared to offer what it considers concessions, “the issue is that America is not willing to lift major sanctions in exchange.”

Regarding the reduction of enriched uranium in storage, the Iranian sources said: “Tehran also wants it removed in several stages, which America doesn’t agree with either.”

There is also disagreement over the destination to which the highly enriched uranium would be sent, the source added.

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France will file a case at the World Court on Friday against Iran for violating the right to consular protection, foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said on Thursday, a bid to pressure Iran over the detention of two French citizens.

Paris has toughened its language towards Iran in recent months, notably over the advancement of Tehran’s nuclear program and its military support for Russia, but also over the detention of European citizens in the country.

Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held in Iran for more than three years. France has repeatedly accused Iran of holding them arbitrarily, keeping them in conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin prison and not allowing proper consular protection.

Iranian officials deny these accusations.

“France will maintain pressure on the Iranian authorities until our two compatriots are freed. Their liberation is a national priority,” Lemoine told a news conference.

He said French officials would file the case on Friday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is based in The Hague, for violating the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Like France, Iran is party to the convention, which defines the framework for consular relations between states, including guaranteeing their right to provide proper consular protection to their citizens.

Cases at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, take years to come to a final ruling. Parties can request the court to order emergency measures to ensure that the dispute not deteriorate while the case is making its way through the United Nations’ top court.

In recent years, Iran‘s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.

Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.

Iran denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his desire to take over the Gaza Strip, telling a business roundtable in Qatar that the US would “make it a freedom zone” and arguing there was nothing left to save in the Palestinian territory.

Trump first pitched his Gaza idea in February, saying the US would redevelop it and relocate Palestinian residents. The plan drew condemnation from Palestinians, Arab nations, and the UN saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Most of Gaza‘s 2.3 million population is internally displaced as Israel continues its military campaign against the Hamas terrorist group, which has ruled the enclave for nearly two decades. Israel began its campaign after the October 2023 Hamas attack.

Speaking to a group of officials and business leaders in Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political office in Doha for years, Trump said he has “concepts for Gaza that I think are very good: Make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved.”

Trump said he had seen “aerial shots where, I mean, there’s practically no building standing. It’s not like you’re trying to save something. There’s no buildings. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable.”

“I want to see that [Gaza’ be a freedom zone. And if it’s necessary, I think I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone. Let some good things happen.”

Trump has previously said he wants to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Many Palestinians reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza.

Commenting on Trump‘s remarks in Qatar, Hamas official Basem Naim said the president “possesses the necessary influence” to end the Gaza war and help establish a Palestinian state.

But Naim added: “Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land — it is not real estate for sale on the open market.”

Direct US involvement in Gaza would draw Washington deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and potentially mark its biggest Middle East intervention since its 2003 Iraq invasion. Many Americans view foreign entanglements with skepticism.

Israel began its campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza.

Earlier this month, Israel approved expanded offensive plans against Hamas that might include seizing the Strip and controlling aid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Trump‘s idea as “a bold vision,” and has said that he and the US president have discussed which countries might be willing to take Palestinians who leave Gaza.

The post US Would Make Gaza a ‘Freedom Zone,’ Trump Says in Qatar first appeared on Algemeiner.com.