Washington and Tehran edge towards accord amid fresh threats

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has assured Washington it will neither develop nuclear weapons nor seek to acquire an atomic bomb, saying the two countries are now close to reaching an agreement, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Sunday.

According to the channel report, Trump, while speaking to reporters, said the United States was obtaining what it wanted from Iran through negotiations and that both sides were moving closer to a deal. 

The US president stressed that Washington was not in a hurry to conclude an agreement, arguing that rushing the process could undermine the quality of any final settlement.

Trump maintained that America held a strong negotiating position and claimed that Iran was facing significant military challenges. 

He further warned that if a satisfactory agreement could not be reached, another military operation against Iran might become necessary.

The US president also stated that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened once a formal agreement was signed.

--US military reports action against vessel--

In a separate development, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces had disabled a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was allegedly attempting to travel towards an Iranian port.

According to CENTCOM, the ship, sailing under the Gambian flag, ignored repeated warnings that it was violating a US maritime blockade. 

The command said more than 20 warnings were issued before a Hellfire missile was used to strike the vessel's engine room, rendering it inoperable.

--Iran warns over Strait of Hormuz--

Meanwhile, Iran issued a warning to vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz without authorisation.

An Iranian military spokesperson said Tehran maintained full control over the strategic waterway and warned that ships attempting to pass through without permission could face serious consequences.

--Decision on agreement delayed--

Despite indications of progress, uncertainty remains over the proposed agreement.

According to reports published by The New York Times, President Trump has postponed a final decision on the deal with Iran. 

A two-hour meeting in the White House Situation Room reportedly ended without a breakthrough, leaving the future of the negotiations unresolved.

White House officials said the president would only approve an agreement that fully met American conditions and protected US interests. 

They emphasised that any final deal would have to satisfy the requirements laid down by the Trump administration before it could be endorsed.

Trump asked for tougher terms in proposed Iran war deal: US media

According to AFP, US President Donald Trump said he had secured guarantees from Iran that it would not develop nuclear weapons, as reports emerged he had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Tehran.

Any tweaks to the proposal could prolong even further an agreement to formally end the Middle East war and open the Strait of Hormuz maritime route after weeks of efforts to secure a deal despite fractious rhetoric and the occasional flare up of armed conflict.

The New York Times and Axios media outlets reported on Saturday that Trump had sent back a new framework to be considered by Iran with "tougher" terms, though it was not immediately clear what that entailed.

Trump has said his priorities for any deal include stopping Iran from any nuclear weapon development and re-opening the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

"The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They've agreed to that, and it was very interesting," he told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview broadcast on her Fox News program on Saturday night.

But Tehran has previously cast doubt on Trump's assertions and the parties appeared far apart on their key priorities.

Iran has said it requires the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before it moved to substantive talks on issues such as its nuclear program and called earlier Trump comments that its enriched uranium -- a precursor for nuclear weapons -- would be destroyed "baseless", according to Iranian media.

Tehran has also insisted that Lebanon must be included in any end to the war despite ongoing fighting, with Beirut accusing Israel of a "scorched-earth policy" as its forces advanced and carried out further airstrikes it says target Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

After Trump and US officials earlier said they were on the brink of striking a deal, he struck a less urgent tone and hinted at renewed military action in the Fox interview.

"I'm in no hurry," he said. "Slowly but surely we're getting, I think, what we want and if we don't get what we want, we're going to end in a different way."

- Flare ups -
 

That echoed comments from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth who said at a defense summit in Asia on Saturday that Washington was "more than capable" of restarting the war if necessary.

Though daily strikes throughout Iran and the Gulf have stopped since Tehran and Washington struck a temporary ceasefire in April followed by historic talks hosted by Pakistan, bursts of armed conflict have continued.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards had shot down a US military drone "about to enter Iranian territorial waters to conduct hostile operations", Iran's state broadcaster IRIB reported, an incident that has not been confirmed by the United States.

Earlier in the week, the worst fighting since the fragile ceasefire broke out when US forces carried out strikes on the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, countered by retaliatory fire from Iran.

Nevertheless diplomacy has continued with Trump under pressure to reach an agreement that would lift US and Iranian competing blockades around the Strait of Hormuz that have choked international oil supplies and threatened the global economy with rising prices.

After Trump said on social media that Tehran would charge "no tolls" on ships passing through the strait once the blockades were lifted under any deal, Iranian news agency Fars cited sources saying "no such clause appears in the text of the agreement."

Iran's ISNA news agency on Saturday cited lawmaker Alireza Salimi as saying a plan "to implement Iran's management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz will soon be approved by parliament."

- Expanded Lebanon operations -
 

Israel's military issued evacuation warnings for more villages in south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had pushed more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) into the country.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of pursuing a "scorched-earth policy and collective punishment", and called for "a swift and real ceasefire."

Israel's military confirmed it was expanding its ground offensive in a statement released early on Sunday, saying "a significant number" of its forces had advanced past the Litani river and were carrying out expanded operations against Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge and Wadi al-Saluki area.

A truce between Israel and Hezbollah began on April 17 but has never been observed, with both sides accusing each other of violating it.

In early March, Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes, prompting Israel to carry out near-daily air raids in Lebanon and launch a ground invasion.

Israel and Lebanon began direct talks in April, with a fourth round expected in the coming week.