WASHINGTON — American negotiators believe that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has signed off on the “broad template” of a peace plan in which his nation would agree “in principle” to dispose of its highly enriched uranium.
The deal, which would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to free passage of ships after three months of war, could still take days for final ratification by Iranian negotiators as both sides wrangle over its wording.
“They will open up the strait in exchange for us lifting the blockade, and they will agree in principle to dispose of the highly enriched uranium, but then there’s a question about how precisely to do that,” a senior Trump administration official said.
“We feel quite confident that the supreme leader has signed off on the broad template.”
The deal would reopen the crucial strait without new tolls, and would leave major issues unresolved pending further talks, with sanctions relief tied to progress on offloading the nuclear material and an enforcement mechanism to bar future enrichment.
The Iranian side has “national pride considerations” for offloading the material, the US official said.
President Trump, who on Saturday announced the pending agreement, has floated destroying the roughly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium, and also has mentioned the Iranians working with the Chinese government to help dig it out of deeply buried locations.
“A lot of this debate is not really what happens to the stockpiled material, but it’s how the Iranians can sell it to their own hardliners and to their own population in a way that gets us what we need as well,” the official said.
“No one disputes that the stockpiled enriched material will be disposed of. It’s a question about how. And then simultaneously, while we’re figuring out that question of how, we’re going to have this thing where the straits open, the blockade is lifted and we get the economy some breathing room.”
The official added: “Even if we get this language in a good place, it is going to take days for it to filter through their system and to get an approval.”
The question of sanctions relief, meanwhile, could be summed up as “no dust, no dollars,” the official said.
“In other words, no highly enriched uranium, then the Iranians aren’t going to get any real relief.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
