President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran has agreed not to possess nuclear weapons and will allow the United States to recover the “nuclear dust” buried at sites struck by American B-2 bombers earlier in the war.

“Very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and they’ve agreed to that. Iran’s agreed to that and they’ve agreed to it very powerfully,” Trump said. “They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers.”

Asked whether a 20-year moratorium on Iran enriching uranium is acceptable, Trump replied: “We have a statement, a very powerful statement, that they will not have — beyond 20 years — that they will NOT have nuclear weapons. There’s no 20-year limit.”

The comments came as the two-week US-Iran ceasefire is set to expire April 22 and as negotiators work toward a wider agreement. Asked whether he was considering extending the pause in fighting, Trump said he was not sure an extension would be needed.

“We’re doing very well. Maybe it will happen before that. I’m not sure it needs to be extended. Iran wants to make a deal,” he said.

Trump warned that combat would resume if no agreement is reached. “If there’s no deal, fighting resumes,” he said.

He described Tehran as newly willing to make concessions. “Iran wants to make a deal, and we’re dealing very nicely with them. We’ve got to have no nuclear weapons. That’s a big factor, and they’re willing to do things today that they weren’t willing to do two months ago,” Trump said.

Trump also addressed the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Thursday was being enforced with less than 10% of American naval power.

“The blockade has been incredible, it’s held, they’re not doing any business,” Trump said. “Everything is gone, including their leaders. Now, they have a new set of leaders, and we find them very reasonable.”

The president said oil prices were running at roughly half of what had been anticipated since the conflict began.

On a separate track of Middle East diplomacy, Trump pointed to the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced earlier Thursday as another diplomatic achievement. “They’re going to be having a ceasefire. I think that could be number 10 for me,” he said.

The US and Israel launched their bombing campaign against Iran on February 28 to destroy the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The current two-week ceasefire was announced by Trump on April 8. US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and presidential adviser Jared Kushner, met with an Iranian delegation in Islamabad under Pakistani mediation earlier this month, though Vance said at the time that the talks produced no agreement.

Iran has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons but has enriched uranium to levels with no peaceful application and obstructed international inspectors from visiting its facilities.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)