Shafaq News- Washington

US President Donald Trump signaled on Sunday that a nuclear agreement with Iran may be “very close,” indicating that any potential deal would block Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump stated that Washington would work with Tehran to recover and dismantle enriched uranium if negotiations succeed.

“If we make a deal that now we’re friendly, we’ll all go together. It’ll be our equipment. We’ll take it out and destroy it, whether it’s on-site or whether we take it off-site,” Trump said, warning that if an agreement is not reached, “then we’re going to take them out militarily very harshly.”

On the security front, Trump confirmed that US forces will remain deployed across the region for now, describing the presence as part of efforts to maintain stability while diplomatic talks continue. He further noted that any potential agreement would not include the immediate release of frozen Iranian assets, adding that such steps would depend on Tehran’s compliance with future commitments.

Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains one of the main unresolved issues in negotiations between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the three-month war. Trump has repeatedly demanded that Iran relinquish its enriched uranium, while recent draft memoranda of understanding have centered on a preliminary framework that leaves core nuclear issues for later talks.

Read more: Trump’s balancing act with Iran tests diplomacy and deterrence