Donald Trump finished a roughly two-hour White House Situation Room meeting on May 29 without deciding whether to approve a proposed Iran agreement, a senior administration official told the Associated Press. The proposed framework would extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz; Iran also said it was not finalised.
Reuters reported that the extension under discussion would last 60 days, creating time for negotiations on a permanent end to the war. Trump demanded unrestricted two-way passage through Hormuz without tolls, removal of sea mines and an undertaking that Iran would never acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iranian positions remained different. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on state television that management of the strait should be decided by Iran and Oman. A senior Iranian source told Reuters the proposed arrangement did not include nuclear issues. These statements left the scope of the prospective negotiations contested.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said any removal of the American blockade would be gradual. Reuters also reported IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's statement to the Financial Times that Kazakhstan had indicated willingness to receive Iran's highly enriched uranium if a deal emerged. That was a reported possibility, not an agreed transfer.
Kazakhstan already hosts a separate IAEA-owned low-enriched uranium bank. The agency's December 2021 account records completion of its 90-tonne stock through deliveries in October and December 2019. The bank supplies a reserve for civilian nuclear-power fuel when exceptional disruption prevents an eligible member state from obtaining material commercially or through other means.
That existing operation rests on a legal framework involving Kazakhstan and the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, plus transport agreements with China and Russia. The IAEA inspects deliveries and manages the stock, while the plant operator holds primary responsibility for safety and security. It is an established fuel-supply mechanism, distinct from the still-unsettled proposal concerning Iran's different stockpile.
