Washington, June 12 (IANS) The United States and Iran are close to finalising a nuclear agreement that would require Tehran to dismantle key elements of its nuclear programme, surrender enriched nuclear material and accept a long-term inspection regime in exchange for phased economic relief, the Donald Trump administration said on Friday.
Negotiators have made substantial progress and could sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) within days, although some final issues still need to be resolved, a senior administration official told reporters on Friday.
“We do expect to be signing this agreement over the next few days,” the official said, estimating the chances of a deal at “80, 85 per cent now” while cautioning that negotiations had not yet crossed the finish line.
The proposed agreement represents the most detailed public description yet of a potential settlement between Washington and Tehran after months of military confrontation, economic pressure and diplomatic engagement.
According to the official, the agreement would reopen regional shipping routes, dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme, remove enriched nuclear material from the country and establish a framework for regional stability backed by inspections and verification.
“What the deal does is actually quite simple here,” the official said. “It accomplishes the core objectives that the President of the United States set out for this mission.”
A central feature of the agreement is Iran’s commitment to give up the infrastructure needed to develop a nuclear weapon.
The official said Tehran had agreed indefinitely not to build or acquire a nuclear weapon and would be required to eliminate highly enriched material that could be used for military purposes.
“They are committing indefinitely to never procure or develop nuclear weapons,” the official said.
The administration said one of the most significant breakthroughs in recent negotiations involved language governing the destruction and removal of enriched nuclear material.
“The specificity over the destruction and removal of the enriched material, that is a big change that’s happened in the MoU over the last couple of weeks,” the official said.
At the same time, the official stressed that implementation would not occur overnight.
Technical negotiations are expected to continue for 60 days after the signing of the agreement to determine how nuclear material would be removed, how facilities would be decommissioned and how inspections would be carried out.
“The technical details need to be figured out,” the official said, describing the material involved as “very combustible” and “very volatile”.
The official repeatedly emphasised that the agreement was built around verification rather than trust.
“I don’t think the Iranians trust us, and I don’t think the United States trusts the Iranians,” the official said.
Instead, economic incentives would be tied directly to Iranian compliance.
The administration rejected reports that Iran would receive immediate financial benefits upon signing.
“The Iranians don’t get anything upon the signing of the MoU,” the official said.
Under the proposed framework, sanctions relief, access to frozen assets and broader economic reintegration would occur only after Tehran fulfils specific obligations.
Those obligations include transferring nuclear material, dismantling facilities and meeting commitments related to regional stability.
“The more that the Iranians perform, the more that they get,” the official said.
The briefing also offered one of the clearest explanations yet of the administration’s position on Iran’s civilian nuclear activities.
The official said Washington was not seeking to eliminate peaceful nuclear energy generation.
“We’re not bothered at all by the idea of civilian power plants in Iran,” the official said.
Instead, the concern is with infrastructure that could allow Iran to move from civilian nuclear activities to weapons development.
“What we’re bothered by is the type of infrastructure that would allow them to jump from civilian power generation to nuclear weapons development,” the official said.
Questions from reporters focused heavily on whether Israel would support the agreement and whether Tehran could be trusted to honour its commitments.
The official said the United States remained in close contact with Israeli leaders and expressed confidence that regional partners would support the arrangement once its full terms became clear.
“We feel confident that the deal that we’re actually going to strike, assuming we get there, is going to be a deal that everybody in the region can be comfortable with,” the official said.
The administration also argued that support for the agreement extends across much of Iran’s political and security establishment, despite opposition from some hardliners.
Officials said they had received assurances from both civilian and military interlocutors that Iran’s leadership was broadly comfortable with the direction of negotiations.
–IANS
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