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Trump says US will work closely with Iran, discuss sanctions

US President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks during a press conference in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 6, 2026.
US President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks during a press conference in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 6, 2026. Photo : REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files

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The United States will work closely with Iran and the two countries are discussing tariff and sanctions relief, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, following the ​announcement of a two-week ceasefire.

Trump pulled back from the brink of a threatened full-on assault on ‌Iran on Tuesday night, two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

He said on social media that many of the 15 points in the US plan proposed to ​Iran had been agreed to, but did not elaborate.

"We are, and will be, talking ​Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran," Trump said in a social media post.

Despite ⁠his ebullient comments, and widespread relief on Iran's streets and in global financial markets over the ​ceasefire, the main disagreements between Washington and Tehran remain unresolved and the two sides are sticking ​to competing demands for a potential peace deal.

Trump also said on Wednesday that any country supplying weapons to Iran would immediately face a 50 per cent tariff on any goods exported to the US.

Beijing and Moscow have both helped ​Iran build military capacity to counter US and Israeli pressure, supplying missiles, air-defense systems and technology ​intended to bolster deterrence, complicate US operations and raise the costs of attack. But Russia and China have been ‌restrained ⁠in their support during the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

'VERY PRODUCTIVE REGIME CHANGE'

Trump offered praise on Wednesday for Iran's current leaders after US and Israeli strikes killed a number of top officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has been replaced as supreme leader by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

"The ​United States will work ​closely with Iran, which ⁠we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

"There will be ​no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, ​dig up and ⁠remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear 'Dust.'"

"Nothing has been touched from the date of attack."

The war waged by the US and Israel has yet to deprive Iran either of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade ⁠highly ​enriched uranium or its ability to hit its neighbours with ​missiles and drones. And Iran's clerical leadership, which faced a mass uprising months ago, has withstood the six-week onslaught with ​no sign of domestic opposition.

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