Trump still 'not satisfied' with Iran deal, reports of unofficial draft agreement

Added: 2026-05-29

[00:00:03]I'm Christine Fzaw in Washington where President Trump says he's in no rush to sign a deal with Iran. Details of an unofficial draft were shared by Iranian state media, but the White House now says they're simply not true.

[00:00:16]Reports of a draft agreement shared by Iranian state media said to include the reopening of the Straight of Hormuz to commercial maritime traffic in exchange for the United States lifting its naval blockade in the region. The White House calling the report a quote complete fabrication.

[00:00:32]>> They want very much to make a deal. So far, they haven't gotten there. We're not satisfied with it, but we will be we will be either that or we'll have to just finish the job.

[00:00:41]>> Threats of more attacks have been part of the weeksl long negotiations.

[00:00:45]Sticking points include the blocked straight of Hormuz, which caused gas prices to spike to their highest levels in years during Memorial Day weekend.

[00:00:53]>> The straight's going to be open to everybody. It's uh >> and who would control that?

[00:00:56]>> It's international waters. Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it, but nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have.

[00:01:05]They would like to control it.

[00:01:06]>> The White House insisting curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions is also key.

[00:01:11]>> It's very simple. Iran and these people in charge of Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

[00:01:16]>> Iran reportedly demanding the release of 24 billion dollars in frozen assets.

[00:01:21]>> We have control of money that they claim is theirs. We'll keep control of that money. and when they behave properly and when they do what's right, we'll let them have their money. But right now, we're not doing that.

[00:01:34]>> Democrats continue to sound alarm bells about just how long the conflict has gone on and how it's negatively impacted the US economy.

[00:01:42]>> We are more than 80 days in. He's not accomplished any of the goals from regime change to getting the enriched uranium to getting rid of their missiles or Lord knows the straight of Hermoose was not a problem before the war started. President Trump was asked about political implications and the timing here and how long it's been taking. He said he doesn't care about the midterms and that it's in his words very simple.

[00:02:05]Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I'm Christine Fzowl reporting.

[00:02:14]There are a lot of forces unpacked in your wallet right now from the Iran war, inflation, interest rates. The White House is projecting confidence that relief is on the way, especially when it comes to gas. Joining us now to discuss is former White House economic adviser Steve Moore. Always good to talk to you and I want to start with oil prices.

[00:02:32]Americans of course feeling the pain at the gas pump. The Trump administration at one point saying that we're close to a deal with Iran, but right now the markets look like a deal is on the way.

[00:02:42]Here's what Kevin Hasset, the director of the National Economic Council, had to say. Listen. So, as people are getting ready to get their oil refineries going back to full capacity and everything, then there's just basically a a gusher of oil that could come out. We've already seen signs that people are a little bit wary about buying uh oil on the spot market right now because they expect the price to drop a lot sometime soon. And so, that's a very, very good sign.

[00:03:08]>> You hear that right there? That's a good sign. Of course, the price of crude oil down I believe when I woke up this morning. So, is Kevin right across the board here?

[00:03:16]We will see. Kevin Hass's good friend and a great economist. Uh, you know, he's very optimistic. Um, I'm hopeful, you know, but we've seen these kind of false uh hopes that we're going to get the channel open uh and we're going to get that oil flowing again. But this time, it looks like we're getting very close. And and right now, the last time I checked, the oil price was uh between 90 and $95 a barrel. That's down from $105 a barrel. If we can get that price down to below $80 a barrel, then we are talking about, you know, gas which is now Angela about $450 a gallon nationally down to about 350 a gallon.

[00:03:53]That would be welcome relief. But, you know, you look at what's happening in the markets, you look at what the overall economic picture and it looks good right now. Not great, but good. We had a good uh report by the Federal uh board uh Federal Reserve Board saying that um the economy is going at at near 4% so far. Uh you look at the stock market, NASDAQ, S&P 500, Dow at all-time highs. So there is a there is a it's so strange, Angela, because you know the financial sector looks strong and investors are investing, but look at the consumer numbers. Consumers are very stressed out right now. And I think they're stressed out a lot because of some things like gas prices and also in some cases interest rates. And you have the new Fed chair Kevin Worsh is barely sworn in and already facing a major test. You have some economists are warning that stubborn inflation. Also a commodity prices could actually force a rate hike, not cut them. Now we all know that interest rates are set by the Federal Open Market Committee, not necessarily the chair. The chair has a vote. But what do you think about this when it comes to interest rates? And also what do you think we're going to see in the first 100 days of War's term here? Well, by the way, I was uh proud to be there on Friday uh over there at the White House when Kevin Worsh was sworn in. First of all, I want to make sure your uh your viewers understand this guy is spectacular. He's so wellqualified. He understands the monetary system. He's an inflation hawk.

[00:05:16]He's going to try to bring inflation down. Now, your question is, will he bring interest rates down right now? And I think right now the answer to that probably is no because when you have high inflation, if you're lowering interest rates that pushes more money, Angela, into the economy, could make inflation worse. So I think right now the the Fed will stand pat. But um but he is going the job number one for Kevin Walsh is to get that inflation rate which is now at three and a half to 4% back down to below 2%. And I think that's what every consumer would love to see.

[00:05:48]>> So quickly, what do you think we are going to see in this first 100 days here?

[00:05:51]Say that again.

[00:05:52]>> What do you think we are going to see right off the bat here when it comes to Kevin Wars? Any movement?

[00:05:57]>> Uh, you know, I think he he is, as I said, he wants to make sure that the dollar remains strong and stable in price. That's why you have a currency.

[00:06:06]Uh, so I don't think you're going to see the the Fed lower their federal funds rate interest rate until you start seeing that gas, you know, it circles back to what we started this conversation. When the gas price comes down, that will bring inflation down and everything else. And then I think the Fed lowers rates. And by the way, Angela, that means we could be really at the beginning stage of another big economic boom.

[00:06:31]>> And that's something we all want. Um, but let's talk about we all want that.

[00:06:35]Um, but let's talk about this because this is something that I find fascinating. It impacts all of us as Americans. We're talking about the chips in our phones, our cars, hospitals, so many things. And you um argue, and tell me if I'm right, the government control of chip sales could be hurting everyday Americans and also hurting our bottom line, costing us something like $7.5 billion in tax revenue. Are we handicapping our tech companies? Is that what you're saying here?

[00:07:00]>> Well, look, we've been completely number one in the tech sector now for 20 years.

[00:07:04]You know, nine of the 10 top uh technology companies in the world are doicile here in the United States, which is a fantastic thing. These are trillion dollar companies. Uh Nvidia is one of our major trip uh microchip producers which makes the technology revolution possible and we have export controls that that uh that reduce their ability to export these products in part because they're worried about you know China stealing our technology. But I think the consensus right now is let's expand our markets. Let's let Nvidia and these other great tech companies sell their products because look, if China wants to steal our technology, and they do, they're going to do it whether we have these these chip controls uh and and by not selling them the chips, that only accelerates China's uh ambitions to take over that industry. We can't let that happen.

[00:07:52]>> You know, always great to talk to you, former White House economic adviser Steve Moore. Thank you as always for joining us.

[00:07:59]>> Have a great week. Thank you very much.