US President Donald Trump has sought changes to the proposed deal with Iran after a meeting with his advisers on Friday, US officials said. This has caused ongoing negotiations between the parties to last for another week.

The exact changes Trump has sought were not immediately known, but officials said he has insisted on tougher wording regarding Iran’s nuclear commitments and its pledge to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

This new round of changes comes a week after Trump declared the deal was “largely finalized” and had hinted that the end of the conflict was near.

Since then, US officials have signaled progress toward a deal that would end hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lead to more detailed talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

However, even after Trump announced he would make a “final decision” during the meeting on Friday and released some of the deal’s terms on social media, the two-hour meeting ended without a final decision.

While Trump claims the U.S. would take control of Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and destroy them, Iran has repeatedly stated that details of its nuclear program are not part of the current negotiations.

Trump has also said there had been no discussion of cash exchanges as part of the deal, while Iran insists that economic relief must be included in any deal.

It remains unclear how these discrepancies will be resolved as negotiations over the wording of the deal continue.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that no deal with the United States will be approved until Iran’s “rights” are guaranteed.

“The soldiers of the diplomatic battleground have no faith in the enemy’s words and promises. What matters to us are the concrete achievements we must ensure, in return for which we will fulfill our commitments,” he was quoted as saying by Iran’s Tasnim agency.

In response to the Iranian threat to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy trade, Trump has ordered the US Navy to block Iranian ports and clear the strait of sea mines. Iranian.

The blockade continued even during the negotiations. According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the US military on Friday neutralized a Gambian-flagged vessel sailing towards Iran with a missile that hit the engine room.

CENTCOM said the M/V Lian Star was en route to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman when the US military issued “more than 20 warnings”, claiming it was violating the US blockade of the ports.

CENTCOM has said this is the fifth merchant vessel to be disabled since the blockade began.

Also, more than 100 other vessels have been forced to divert.

Source: prizrenpost