WHAT TO KNOW
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U.S. and Iran reached a memorandum of understanding at extending the ceasefire for 60 days and launching Iranian nuclear negotiations, but the plan needs President Donald Trump’s final approval, U.S. sources told Fox News.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said sanctions relief for Iran will not be on the table unless Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz, turns over highly enriched uranium and agrees it cannot have a nuclear program.
- U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday rejected Iranian state media reports claiming Iranian forces shot down a U.S. aircraft near Bushehr.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major Indo-Pacific security summit, as tensions remain high with Iran.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s heading to the Situation Room to make a “final determination” on the next steps with Iran.
“Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb. The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions. All water mines (bombs), if any, will be terminated (we have removed, through detonation, numerous such mines with our great underwater mine sweepers. Iran will complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left, which will not be many!),” Trump began in a post on Truth Social.
“Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’ Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” Trump added.
“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” the president also said. “No money will be exchanged, until further notice. Other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to. I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination.”
Even as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reportedly move toward a temporary framework agreement, one of the most consequential questions remains unresolved: What happens to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile?
Iranian officials have repeatedly insisted retaining enriched uranium is a red line in negotiations, even as President Donald Trump has vowed Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon” and suggested the United States could ultimately “take” the material if necessary.
Nonproliferation experts say the issue sits at the center of whether any future agreement can credibly prevent Iran from rapidly moving toward weapons-grade enrichment — particularly after U.S. strikes damaged key nuclear facilities but did not necessarily eliminate the nuclear material itself.
“I think it would put a poison pill in any agreement because retaining any of these 60% stockpile or really any of the lower enriched material,” Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. “That would give them the ability to go higher to weapons grade at a time of their choosing.”