President Donald Trump sent back changes to the proposed deal with Iran after a meeting with advisers on Friday, officials said, extending the back-and-forth negotiations into another week.
The exact changes Trump requested weren’t immediately clear, but officials yesterday said the president has insisted on tougher language surrounding Iran’s nuclear commitments and its pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
One foreign official familiar with the matter told CNN the changes aren’t substantive and mostly centre on a US desire for assurances on those issues.
Trump has also voiced concern at what financial relief might be provided for Iran as part of the deal, wary of comparisons to the ‘pallets of cash’ that were delivered under the Obama-era nuclear deal he derides as weak.
One US official said more military strikes are unlikely with a deal close, and regional allies do not want combat operations to resume.
The latest volley of proposed changes comes a week after Trump declared the deal ‘largely finalised’ and signalled the end of the war was imminent.
Since then, US officials have telegraphed progress on reaching an agreement that would end hostilities, reopen the strait and begin more detailed talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Yet even after Trump announced he would make a ‘final determination’ during Friday’s meeting, and spelled out some of the deal’s conditions on social media, the two-hour session ended without a conclusive decision.
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