U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran had been close to reaching a comprehensive agreement with the United States “four or five times,” but repeatedly backed away at the last moment.
“Every time they agree, the next day they act as if we never spoke,” Trump told Fox News. “This has happened four or five times. There’s something wrong with them. Frankly, they’re crazy.”
“And because they’re crazy, they cannot have nuclear weapons,” he added.
Trump also claimed that Iran had previously agreed to hand over its enriched uranium stockpile to the United States during negotiations between the two countries.
“No nuclear weapons,” Trump said, adding: “They were going to give us the nuclear dust. Whatever we wanted.”
In another appearance, Trump stated: “The Iranians told me very clearly… that they intend to give us the nuclear dust, as I call it,” referring to enriched uranium reportedly buried at bombed nuclear sites.
He further claimed that Iranian officials told the United States: “You will have to extract it yourselves. We do not have the capacity to do it.”
Trump made similar remarks before reporters ahead of his visit to China, saying Iran had at one point agreed to surrender enriched nuclear material as part of a broader agreement.
Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, have denied accepting U.S. conditions.
“The issue of enrichment is complicated and, in order to reach a conclusion with the American side, we proposed postponing this discussion,” Araghchi said on Friday.
Trump also told Fox News that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that the war should come to an end.
Talks aimed at ending the conflict were suspended last week after both Iran and the United States rejected each other’s latest proposals.
The two sides continue to disagree on several key issues, including Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpile and Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz — the strategic waterway through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply passed before the war erupted on February 28.
Tehran has consistently insisted that its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes, while the United States, Israel, and other Western countries accuse Iran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons.
The United States halted its strikes last month through a fragile ceasefire, which remains in effect.
Tehran has stated that it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States ends its blockade of Iranian ports. Trump has threatened to resume strikes if Iran refuses to accept a deal.
