Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium supply, says Trump

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Thursday (Apr 16) that Iran has agreed to hand over its store of enriched uranium and that the two sides were “close” to a peace deal to end the war that has engulfed the Middle East.

The United States had earlier threatened to resume airstrikes on the Islamic republic and maintain a naval blockade of its ports if Tehran refused to accept a deal to solve the conflict that broke out on Feb 28.

At the same time, on another front in the conflict, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day truce starting on Thursday and said he expected the two countries’ leaders at the White House in “four or five days”.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told AFP the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group – which has been fighting Israel since early March – would respect the ceasefire if Israeli attacks on the militants stopped.

The Lebanese and Israeli prime ministers welcomed the ceasefire, which came days after the US and Iran agreed a separate truce and as Pakistan pursued diplomatic efforts to arrange a new round of talks between foes Washington and Tehran.

Iranian state television on Thursday showed Pakistan’s powerful army chief Asim Munir meeting Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation at the first round of talks last week, which ended without a deal.

The Iranian ambassador to the UN later said Tehran was “cautiously optimistic” about its negotiations on ending hostilities with the US and expressed hope for a “meaningful outcome”.