President Trump spent more than two hours in the White House Situation Room on Friday hammering out the terms of what could become the most consequential Middle East agreement in a generation, a peace deal with Iran that would end a naval blockade, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and demand the permanent destruction of Tehran's enriched uranium stockpile.

A senior administration official told the New York Post that negotiations are "close" but not finalized. The gap between "close" and "done" may be wide, because Iran's own officials are already disputing the terms Trump laid out publicly before he walked into the room.

The stakes are plain. The United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28, targeting its nuclear weapons capability, ballistic missile infrastructure, and military installations. A ceasefire has held since April 8. Trump ordered a blockade of Iranian ports beginning April 13 to tighten the pressure. Now, with a proposed two-phase framework on the table, the president is trying to convert battlefield leverage into a deal that would do what Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear agreement never attempted: strip Iran of its enriched uranium entirely.

What Trump demands, and what Iran denies agreeing to

Before entering the Situation Room on Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social, laying out his conditions in characteristically blunt terms:

"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... in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED."

Trump stated that "it is agreed" the United States "is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability" of extracting the buried material. He added a non-negotiable demand: "Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb."

On the blockade itself, Trump declared it finished. He wrote that 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!'" The Washington Examiner reported that U.S. Central Command had redirected 115 commercial vessels as of May 29 to enforce the blockade, a figure that underscores the scale of economic pressure the administration brought to bear.

Trump also addressed the waterway's safety, writing that "All water mines (bombs), if any, will be terminated," and that U.S. underwater mine sweepers had already removed "numerous" such devices through detonation.

Tehran pushes back, with words and threats

Iran's response has been a mix of caution and defiance. Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, flatly denied that any nuclear agreement exists. "No negotiations have taken place at this stage regarding nuclear issues with the United States," Baghaei said. He acknowledged that "the exchange of messages between Iran and the US continues, but the understanding has not been finalized."

That careful diplomatic language stands in sharp contrast to the rhetoric from Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran's top negotiator and parliamentary speaker. Qalibaf posted on X earlier Friday, warning that Tehran operates on action, not promises.

"We do not trust guarantees and words, only actions are the criterion. No action will be taken before the other side acts."

Qalibaf went further, claiming Tehran would force the United States to make concessions "not through dialogue, but with missiles." That kind of saber-rattling from a man supposedly leading peace talks tells you something about the regime's internal tensions, and about why Trump has expressed doubts about whether Iran's proposals would ever meet American demands.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency dismissed Trump's public statements as a "mixture of truth and falsehood" designed as an "attempt to portray a fabricated victory." That framing is worth noting, not because it is credible on its own, but because it reveals Tehran's strategy of contesting the narrative even as it negotiates behind closed doors.

The two-phase framework

The proposed deal, as described in reporting, follows a two-phase structure. Phase One would see the United States drop its naval blockade, allow unrestricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz with no tolls, and open a 60-day window for further talks on remaining disputes.

Phase Two tackles the harder questions: the future of Iran's nuclear program, the extraction and destruction of enriched uranium, and a phased unfreezing of humanitarian funds held by Qatar. The details of the Qatar funds, amounts, conditions, timeline, remain unclear.

The sequencing matters. Tehran has not publicly agreed to surrender its enriched uranium before the Strait of Hormuz reopens. And as of Thursday, the day before Trump's Situation Room session, the draft deal described by the White House did not include Iran's agreement to destroy its enriched uranium, despite the president's public claims that destruction was part of the arrangement. That gap between the Thursday draft and Trump's Friday Truth Social post remains unexplained.

Fox News reported live updates as Trump held the Situation Room meeting, tracking the fast-moving developments as the administration weighed its final decision.

Who was in the room, and who got there first

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Trump in the Situation Room, along with other senior officials who were not named. The meeting followed weeks of diplomatic groundwork.

Vance, along with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, had traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan before April 8 for formal, direct peace talks with Iran. No additional direct meetings have taken place since. The administration previously pulled Witkoff and Kushner from a Pakistan trip amid frustration with the pace and seriousness of Iran's engagement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also entered the picture. A senior administration official told the Post that Xi offered assistance when Trump met with him in Beijing, though a "couple of options" were still being explored. Whether China would play a direct role in extracting the buried uranium remains unclear.

That potential Chinese involvement adds a layer of complexity. Trump has publicly stated that he and Xi agree Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons. Whether Beijing's offer of help is genuine partnership or diplomatic positioning is an open question the administration will have to answer.

What Obama's deal didn't do

The contrast with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is stark. Obama's agreement included a provision stating that Tehran "will ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program." It did not require the removal or destruction of Iran's enriched uranium. It did not demand the dismantlement of enrichment capability.

Trump is seeking both. Total removal of enriched material. Permanent destruction of the enrichment infrastructure. A binding commitment that Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon. If he secures those terms, the deal would go far beyond anything the Obama administration attempted, or, critics would argue, had the leverage to demand.

That leverage came at a cost. The February 28 military campaign, the B2 Bomber strikes that collapsed mountains over underground facilities, the naval blockade that choked Iranian commerce, all of it built the pressure that brought Tehran to the table. Whether it built enough pressure to close the deal is the question Trump spent Friday afternoon trying to answer.

Just The News reported that the U.S. and Iran had reached a tentative agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict, though final approval remained pending from both sides. Breitbart noted that negotiators from both sides had reached a deal on a 60-day ceasefire extension, pending Trump's sign-off.

Sticking points and open questions

The administration acknowledges that sticking points remain. The nuclear program and the dispersal of humanitarian funds are the two issues most frequently cited, though the specific points of disagreement have not been detailed publicly.

The broader question is whether Iran's public denials and private negotiations are running on parallel tracks, or whether Tehran is genuinely refusing to agree to uranium destruction. Baghaei insisted that nuclear discussions would come only after a deal on the blockade and the strait. If that sequencing holds, Trump faces a choice: lift the blockade first and trust Iran to negotiate on nukes later, or hold firm and risk the deal collapsing.

The ceasefire, now in its seventh week, has held. But reports of a 60-day ceasefire extension agreement that Trump had not yet signed off on suggest the administration is keeping its options open, refusing to lock in timelines until the substance is right.

Iran has repeatedly claimed its nuclear program serves peaceful purposes only. That claim has never been credible to serious observers, and the B2 strikes on underground enrichment facilities suggest the U.S. intelligence community didn't find it credible either.

The deal that matters, if it holds

What emerged from Friday's Situation Room session has not been publicly announced as of the latest reporting. The meeting lasted over two hours. The president entered with a public declaration that the blockade would be lifted. Whether he left with a deal that matches his demands, or with a framework that kicks the hardest questions down the road, will determine whether this moment is remembered as a breakthrough or a starting point.

The administration has the leverage. The question is whether Iran's leaders, who promise action but threaten missiles in the same breath, have the internal coherence to close a deal their own spokesmen deny exists.

Obama tried to manage Iran's nuclear ambitions with a deal built on trust. Trump is trying to end them with a deal built on rubble and a blockade. Only one of those approaches has Iran at the table with nothing left to hide behind.