Russia’s state nuclear company offered Saturday to haul enriched uranium out of Iran, injecting a third-party fix into deadlocked US-Iran talks as the war entered day 51 with the Strait of Hormuz still shut.
The offer from Rosatom director Aleksey Likhachev arrived alongside a French combat death in Lebanon, a public break from Kamala Harris, and a fresh Trump warning against “blackmail” over the closed waterway.
Hormuz status
“We control the strait,” Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said. Vessels that do not pay transit fees or secure Iranian permission cannot pass. The IRGC navy said any ship approaching without clearance will be treated as a legitimate target.
Ghalibaf said talks with Washington had made some progress. The two sides remain “far from final talks,” he added. Last week he sat across from Vice President JD Vance and other American envoys in Pakistan. No date has been set for a next round.
Russia steps into the uranium fight
Rosatom is ready to remove enriched uranium from Iran, Likhachev said. That could break one of the hardest knots in the negotiations.
Trump wants the uranium shipped to the United States. Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh called that demand “unacceptable.” A Russian hand-off gives both sides a face-saver: the material leaves Iran, just not to America.
Rosatom is monitoring the peace negotiations closely, Likhachev said.
Harris breaks silence
Former Vice President Kamala Harris accused Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging Trump into the war. At a donor event Saturday, she said Trump “went into a war that Bibi Netanyahu dragged him into” and called it a war “the American people do not want.”
Trump answered on Truth Social. He praised Israel as a “GREAT ally” and called the country “brave, determined, loyal and smart.” He contrasted Israel with unnamed countries that “showed their true face in moments of conflict.”
This is the first major domestic political clash over the Iran war. Harris’s remarks point to an issue likely to shape the next election cycle.
French soldier killed in Lebanon
One French soldier was killed and three wounded in an attack on UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon. President Emmanuel Macron said evidence points to Hezbollah. The group denied any role.
The attack puts fresh strain on the 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire that took effect April 17. The IDF said it had set up a security zone in southern Lebanon and hit individuals who violated the truce.
What Trump said
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Saturday, Trump called the Iran talks “very good.” The US would not be “blackmailed” by the Hormuz closure, he said. Iran was being “a little tricky, like they’ve been doing for 47 years.”
He also went after Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, one of the war’s loudest critics, saying Spain’s “financial indicators are absolutely terrible.” Days earlier he took aim at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling him “no Winston Churchill.”
The clock
Three days remain before the US-Iran ceasefire expires April 22. Iran says it is reviewing fresh US proposals carried by Pakistan’s army chief and has not yet replied. Neither side has named a date for the next negotiating session.
