Amid ongoing efforts to negotiate an end to the Iran war, US President Donald Trump said  that Tehran had made a major concession by agreeing never to build nuclear weapons, reiterating a claim he has previously made.

Speaking to reporters while swearing in Markwayne Mullin as new Homeland Security Secretary, he said Iran was “talking to us and they’re talking sense.”

He further said, “It all starts with they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” adding, “I don’t want to say in advance, but they’ve agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that.”

Trump also claimed that Iran had offered what he called a “very significant prize” to the United States, suggesting that the gesture might be linked to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital oil transit routes.

The Strait of Hormuz handles a significant portion of the world’s energy shipments, and any disruption to it can have wide-ranging impacts. In recent months, instability along the route driven by ongoing US-Israel-Iran tensions has heightened concerns in Washington and elsewhere, fueling fears of energy shortages and market volatility. The United States has faced challenges in keeping the passage open.

Trump called the reported “present” a positive step but did not share any specific details about the concession.

“They gave us a present and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said, adding: “It wasn’t nuclear, it was oil-and gas-related, and it was a very nice thing they did.”

The president also repeated his belief that the United States had essentially already won its conflict with Iran, suggesting that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was unhappy with how quickly the campaign came to an end.

“Pete didn’t want it to be settled,” Trump said, a day after casually making the remark that it was the Pentagon chief who had encouraged him to carry out strikes on Iran.

While offering no further details, Trump said, “We’re talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly.” 

Trump went on to claim that “regime change” had been achieved in Iran. He said, “We have really regime changed; this is a change in the regime because the leaders are all very different than the ones we started off with.”

Iran, however, has denied any direct talks with the United States, with officials clarifying that recent developments mainly involve messages being exchanged through mediators rather than direct communication.