Trump says US will get Iran’s enriched uranium, wants to decouple Lebanon war from talks

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that under a deal being discussed with Iran, “we will get” Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which has been a major sticking point in negotiations, but added that he wanted to decouple the Lebanon war from nuclear deal talks.

Trump said talks with Iran could yield results over the coming weekend and were going “very well.”

He added: “I hear the negotiation itself is going very well actually,” Trump told reporters, adding of a potential deal: “It could happen… over the weekend.”

On the Lebanon war, Trump said he wants to separate talks from those on the war between the United States and Iran, although Tehran insists the conflicts are linked.

“I’d like to separate it, I’d like to have a separate thing, because it is, it is separate,” the US president said.

He said the US “actually spoke with Hezbollah for the first time, ever.” But when asked about these comments on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump was referring to mediators in the Lebanese government relaying messages between the Iran-backed group and Washington.

“They [Hezbollah] agreed yesterday they’re not going to shoot, Israel’s not going to shoot, we’re just going to see,” Trump said.