U.S. President Donald Trump has hardened his positions in the negotiations with Iran, sending proposed changes back to Tehran, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
According to the NYT report, which was based on two anonymous officials, Trump is concerned that the agreement would include unfreezing funds for the Iranian regime, including around $6 billion held in Qatar.
One source told the NYT that Trump is frustrated with the speed at which Iran is responding to U.S. proposals, and believes a tougher proposal could prompt the Iranian regime to agree to the current text of the agreement.
Last Friday, President Trump met with top officials in the White House situation room for two hours to discuss the Iran situation. However, that meeting ended without any announcement.
According to Axios, a U.S. official told reporters after the meeting that Trump “will only make a deal that is good for America, satisfies his redlines and makes sure Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”
Trump is reportedly demanding the handover of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and is seeking limits on any further enrichment. This would represent a change from Trump’s previous demand of no nuclear enrichment.
Also on Friday, Trump published a lengthy post on his Truth Social account, stating, “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.”
He also demanded that the Strait of Hormuz “be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,” along with the removal of all mines from the vital waterway.
According to the NYT, the current ceasefire framework would see the U.S. end military operations in Iran in exchange for the unrestricted reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with the other issues, such as Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and possibly its ballistic missile program, and aid to proxies, being discussed in later negotiations.
Such a stance is opposed by Israel and by several Gulf states, such as the United Arab Emirates, which said any agreement must include limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program.
On Friday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on social media that Iran does not trust the U.S., and “We obtain concessions not through dialogue, but with missiles. In negotiations, we only make them understand this.”
On Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military stands ready to resume strikes in Iran if a deal is not reached.
“Right now, we’re focused on being postured and prepared to reengage, if we have to,” Hegseth said in a statement to the media at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore.
Hegseth appeared to contradict a statement by Navy Secretary Hung Cao the previous week, who told U.S. senators that the U.S. was pausing military operations to ensure sufficient supplies of munitions.“The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts,” Araghchi writes on X.
“The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,” he says.
Israel had largely refrained from attacking Beirut amid escalating tensions with Iran-backed Hezbollah at the behest of the US Trump administration as it tried to reach a deal with Iran, but has now vowed to do so amid a surge in Hezbollah attacks on soldiers and northern communities.
After instructing the IDF to strike Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz state that the terror group’s headquarters in Dahiyeh are not “off-limits” amid escalating fighting between the sides, after Israel held back from striking the Lebanese capital at the behest of the Trump administration.
“There will be no situation in which Hezbollah attacks our cities and citizens while the terror headquarters in Dahiyeh remain off-limits,” Netanyahu says in a video statement. “We are continuing to deepen our operations on the ground in southern Lebanon, eliminating Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah is on the run. We are determined to restore security to the residents of the north, just as we did for the residents of the south,” he says.
Speaking at a military ceremony, Katz adds in a separate statement: “If there is no quiet in the north, there will be no quiet in Beirut… We will not allow a situation in which our communities and citizens are harmed while calm is maintained in Beirut.”
Katz says the IDF is continuing to carry out both air and ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying the military is achieving “significant gains” against the terror group to remove threats to Israeli civilians and troops.
He says the goal is to “turn the Litani area into a zone under IDF security control, free of weapons and terrorists.”
Katz: "If there is no peace in the north, there will be no peace in Beirut" • Netanyahu: "Hezbollah's terror headquarters in Dahiyah will not remain off-limits"
Israel's military operation in southern Lebanon is intensifying on multiple fronts. IDF forces have crossed the Litani River, captured Beaufort Ridge for the first time in 44 years, and issued a mass evacuation warning for all residents south of the Zahrani River. Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed the Beaufort capture Sunday night, saying 700 Hezbollah terrorists had been eliminated in the past month alone, more than during the entire Second Lebanon War, and instructed the IDF to deepen and expand its grip on former Hezbollah-controlled territory.
On the ground, Hezbollah fire toward northern Israel is escalating. A rocket struck Tiberias overnight for the first time since the ceasefire began, landing in an open area with no injuries. Israel is now expanding its military operation, as US officials have also concluded that current restrictions on IDF activity can no longer be sustained given the scale of Hezbollah's attacks.
On the diplomatic side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday, proposing a clear sequence: Hezbollah stops all attacks, Israel refrains from escalating toward Beirut, and space is created for a gradual ceasefire.
Aoun attempted to advance the proposal, but Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's response was described by a US official as "evasive and disappointing," with Berri claiming to guarantee Hezbollah's commitment while placing the burden on Israel to stop first. The US official signaled support for IDF escalation in Lebanon, saying, "The United States does not expect Israel to absorb ongoing attacks on its civilians by a terrorist organization."
On the Iran front, Tehran has not accepted Trump's proposed amendments to the MoU, with Tasnim news agency reporting that Iran intends to apply its own revisions to the draft text in upcoming talks with Washington.
Iranian FM calls Israel’s actions against Lebanon a ‘violation of the ceasefire on all fronts’; threatens US and Israel with ‘consequences’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted on Monday that the ceasefire brokered by the United States applied "unequivocally" to all fronts, including Lebanon. This statement came after airstrikes ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu against Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs. "Any violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The United States and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation," Araghchi wrote on X.
PM Netanyahu: "Hezbollah's terror headquarters in Dahiyah will not remain off-limits"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday that Israel would not allow Hezbollah to attack Israeli cities while its command centers in Beirut's Dahiyeh district remained untouched.
"Together with the Defense Minister, I instructed the IDF to strike terrorist targets in Beirut," he said. "Hezbollah is in flight. We are determined to restore security to the residents of the north, just as we did for the residents of the south."
Netanyahu added that IDF operations in southern Lebanon were deepening, with Hezbollah strongholds being dismantled across the area.
Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Monday that Israel would not tolerate a situation in which Hezbollah attacks northern Israeli communities while Beirut remains unaffected.
Speaking at a military ceremony, Katz confirmed that he and Prime Minister Netanyahu had ordered IDF strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut's Dahiyeh district in response to ongoing ceasefire violations and vowed the policy would continue.
"The law of Dahiyeh in Beirut is the same as the law of the northern communities in Israel," he said.
Katz added that IDF ground and fire operations in Lebanon were yielding significant results, crushing Hezbollah's capabilities on the ground, and that Israel's goal was to transform the Litani region into an area under IDF security control, free of weapons and terrorists.
