The Trump administration has made clear that Iran’s enriched uranium is the “central issue” in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu said on Monday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance called Netanyahu following the breakdown in the Islamabad talks and clarified “that the central issue on the agenda for President Trump and the U.S. is the removal of all enriched material, and ensuring there is no more enrichment in the coming years, and this could be for decades—no enrichment inside Iran,” the Israeli leader told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
“This is their focus, and of course, it is important to us as well,” said Netanyahu.
Vance “called me from his plane on the way back from Islamabad,” said the premier. “He briefed me in detail, as members of this administration do daily, on the progress of the negotiations—or in this case, the collapse of the negotiations.”
According to Netanyahu, the U.S. walked away from the negotiating table due to Tehran’s “blatant violation” of its commitments under the two-week ceasefire deal.
“The agreement was that firing would cease and the Iranians would immediately open the straits,” he said. “They did not do it. The Americans could not accept that.”
Jerusalem supports Trump’s decision to impose a naval blockade on the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu said, praising the president’s “firm stance.”
“We are in constant coordination with the U.S.,” continued the prime minister. “This is coordination like never before; there is something here that hasn’t happened. It hasn’t happened in the history of the state, and it hasn’t happened in the history of the Jewish people. We have coordination with the strongest power in the world, and we have the ability to repel dangers of annihilation.”
U.S. Central Command said on Sunday that its forces will begin blockading all maritime traffic entering or leaving Iranian ports at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, in line with a presidential directive.
The operation will cover ports along Iran’s Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman coasts and apply to vessels of all nations. Freedom of navigation for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to non-Iranian ports will not be affected, according to CENTCOM.
Trump’s move follows the collapse on Sunday of marathon negotiations with the Islamic regime aimed at ending almost six weeks of war, placing a fragile two-week ceasefire at risk.
Washington has set out firm red lines in further talks with Tehran, including an end to all uranium enrichment, dismantling major enrichment facilities, recovering highly enriched material, fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, securing a broader peace that covers regional allies and halting support for terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the negotiations cited by The Wall Street Journal.
