Donald Trump says US, Iran to jointly remove buried nuclear material; Tehran sees no breakthrough in talks

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that talks with Iran are going "very well" and that Tehran has agreed to allow American personnel, in coordination with Iranian authorities, to enter Iran and recover buried nuclear material once the war ends.

"It's very, very hard to get it ... but nevertheless, I want to get at it," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Despite recent strikes in the region, Trump said the US-Iran ceasefire that took effect in early April remains in place, suggesting that an interim deal could be reached "over the weekend" as talks advance.

"The negotiation itself has gone very well — actually, very well — even if it happens, and it might not happen, but if it happens, it could happen like over the weekend," Trump said.

Trump claimed that Iranian officials have "changed their mind a couple of times, but as it stands now, we will go in sometime in the not-too-distant future."

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In stark contrast, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.

"Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process," the Tasnim news agency quoted Araghchi as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV.

Araghchi warned that any Israeli attack on Beirut would trigger a "full-scale resumption" of the conflict. "Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war. Our armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut."

Iran's naval forces have also targeted the "command center" on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Oman in response to US "violations of the regulations" of the Strait of Hormuz and its "hostile" actions against Iranian vessels, state-run IRIB TV reported on Wednesday. Minutes later, the US Central Command denied the claim on X.

US lawmakers dealt a political blow to Trump on Wednesday when the House passed a resolution directing the withdrawal of American troops from the Iran war.

"This is a loud and unambiguous message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: it's time to end his deeply unpopular and illegal war of choice in Iran," Democrats posted on X.
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