Trump says Iran agreed to no nuclear weapons, 60-day framework set

President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons, marking the clearest sign yet that months of stop-start diplomacy may be nearing a conclusion. The president said he may meet with Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Slowly but surely, we're getting, I think, what we want," Trump said in a June 3 interview. "The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They've agreed to that."

The breakthrough follows weeks of back-and-forth revisions. Trump sent an amended peace plan back to Tehran on May 31, adding tougher language on Iran's nuclear commitments and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios. Iran has enriched nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium to 60% purity — just a short technical step from weapons-grade levels, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 2. The current memorandum of understanding envisions a 60-day window of negotiations during the cease-fire, along with talks on sanctions relief.

A finalized deal would unlock Iranian oil exports, potentially adding millions of barrels per day to global supply and easing the energy-driven inflation that has pushed average US gasoline prices to $4.34 a gallon. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said it could take two months for oil supplies to normalize after a deal is confirmed and blockades in the Strait of Hormuz are lifted. The waterway handles about 21 percent of global oil trade.

Nuclear Terms Remain the Core Sticking Point

Despite Trump's announcement, significant gaps remain between what each side says it has agreed to. Trump has said the United States would seize and destroy Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and that no money exchange was being discussed. Iran, however, has insisted that any agreement must include its own conditions, with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying no deal would be approved unless Tehran's "rights" are secured, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Rubio stressed that any final agreement must go beyond the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which he said "would have expired this year, and it allowed them to keep all the enrichment equipment that they needed." The Obama-era deal was the subject of intense criticism from Trump, who withdrew from it in 2018.

Military Option Remains on the Table

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said over the weekend that the US is prepared to resume military strikes if diplomacy fails. "They can either do this now through a deal, and we think we're in a good place to make that deal, or they can deal with the War Department," Hegseth told reporters.

The military pressure has continued alongside the talks. US Central Command said it disabled a Gambian-flagged vessel heading to Iran — the fifth commercial ship disabled since the blockade began — and that more than 100 vessels have been redirected away from the Strait of Hormuz. Despite these forceful moves, one US official told CNN that additional military strikes are unlikely while a deal is close.

The economic stakes are substantial. Only 16 percent of Americans rate the economy as excellent or good, according to a recent Gallup poll, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by another 9.1 million barrels between May 15 and May 22, according to the Energy Information Administration. A successful deal would ease both geopolitical risk premiums and energy costs, potentially boosting risk appetite across equities and emerging markets while weighing on safe-haven assets such as gold and crude oil.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.