Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks at a press conference after attending the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi, India, Friday. Araghchi signaled a willingness to negotiate with the United States. Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA
May 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that the first sentence of Iran’s peace proposal was “unacceptable” and accused the country of backtracking on its nuclear policy, but Iran signaled it’s still ready to negotiate.
Trump said the first sentence was an “unacceptable sentence, because they have fully agreed no nuclear, and if they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest,” CNN reported he said. He added that he is unsatisfied with the “level of guarantee from them.”
Trump said Iran had agreed to give up its enriched uranium, which he calls “nuclear dust.” But “then they took it back,” he said.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that discussion about uranium enrichment “is currently not on the agenda of discussions or negotiations,” but the country is willing to talk about it later in negotiations, according to Iran’s news agency Tasnim.
Iran has said it doesn’t plan to build a nuclear weapon but has refused to give up its uranium.
Trump’s comments were on his trip from Beijing after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
When reporters asked if Xi had agreed to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the president replied, “We don’t need favors,” but that “we may have to do a little cleanup work,” without clarifying what he meant.
“We had a little monthlong cease-fire, I guess you’d call it, but we have a blockade that’s so effective, that’s why we did the cease-fire.”
China appears hesitant to get involved in the conflict, Al Jazeera reported.
Trump said the United States and China agree that the strait must be opened and the war must end. About half of China’s crude oil comes through the strait.
Araghchi said Iran would welcome Chinese diplomacy to help defuse the war with the United States.
“Any effort made by the Chinese to support diplomacy will be welcomed by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said at a press conference in New Delhi, India. He was attending the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting.
But he also said that Iran considers itself as the protector of the strait.
Araghchi said on X that with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, he “clarified that Iran will always carry out [its] historical duty as protector of security” in the Strait of Hormuz.
He added that “all friendly nations” can “rely on safety of commerce.”
Following his visit with Xi, Trump also said he is considering removing sanctions on Chinese companies that have been buying Iranian oil as the war and high gas prices linger.
“I’m going to make a decision over the next few days. We did talk about that,” Trump said on Friday.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC Friday that China will likely buy more oil from the United States.
“I suspect we’ll see a growth in their oil imports from the United States,” Wright said.
“But ultimately, the world needs to get the Persian Gulf open. Iran’s attempt to hold the whole world hostage, people know it’s temporary.
“One way or the other, we will see an end to the Iranian nuclear program and we will see free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That can happen relatively rapidly with an agreement with Iran,” he said.
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