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U.S. President Donald Trump declared Monday that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is on "massive life support," as he accused Tehran of agreeing verbally to allow the U.S. to remove its highly enriched uranium stockpile but then omitting that commitment from its written proposal.
He called Iran's response a "piece of garbage" he did not finish reading, and said he was considering restarting the Hormuz naval escort initiative, with any future version to be "much more severe."
"I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn't even finish reading it. I would say it's on life support," Trump told reporters when asked whether the ceasefire remained in place.
"I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support," he said.
He said he remained willing to negotiate. "I think it's very possible" to reach a diplomatic solution, he said.
"Look, I've had a deal with them four or five times. They change their mind. They're very dishonorable people, the leadership," Trump stated.
Trump made a striking new assertion: that Iran had privately agreed, days before its written proposal arrived, to allow the United States to remove its enriched uranium stockpile, even specifying that only the U.S. and China have the technical capability to extract it from sites the U.S. had bombed.
"They told me, number one, you're getting it, but you're going to have to take it out," Trump said, adding, "But they changed their mind, because they didn't put it in the paper."
Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its enriched uranium and insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
In a subsequent phone interview with CBS News, Trump acknowledged that Iran's proposal did include some nuclear concessions but said they were "not enough." His core stated requirement: "Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they didn't say that in their letter."
Trump described a divided Iranian leadership: "You have the moderates, and you have the lunatics. And I think the moderates are more respected. The lunatics want to fight till the end. The moderates are dying to make a deal."
He said he believed the moderates were "a little bit afraid of the lunatics."
He said he would continue engaging. "They're going to fold. I will deal with them until they make a deal," he told Fox News's John Roberts.
He also said Iran thinks "I'll get tired of this. I'll get bored, or I'll have some pressure. But there's no pressure."
Trump also disclosed frustration with a covert effort to arm Iranian civilians for a potential uprising. "They want to go out on the streets. They have no weapons. They have no guns. We thought the Kurds were going to give them weapons, but the Kurds disappointed us," he said.
"We sent some guns with ammunition, and it was supposed to be delivered, but they kept it." He claimed he had predicted the plan would fail.
Trump told Fox News he was considering restarting Hormuz naval escorts, saying a resumed operation would be "much more severe" than the original Project Freedom, which launched May 6 and was suspended less than 48 hours later.
He did not say he had made a final decision. "We're going to have a complete victory," he said of the overall Iran campaign.
Trump separately described his war plan as "very simple", and said he had "the best plan ever."
He expressed hope that Xi Jinping, whom he called a close ally with a "great relationship," would help pressure Iran during their Beijing summit scheduled for May 13-15: "He would like to see it get done."
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