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A senior Iranian official has explicitly denied that Tehran agreed to hand over or relocate its highly enriched uranium stockpiles as part of the pending diplomatic memorandum of understanding with the US. The revelation directly contradicts earlier assumptions surrounding the breakthrough truce announced by Donald Trump.

The sudden diplomatic breakthrough aimed at ending the military standoff in the Persian Gulf has hit a critical roadblock after a senior Iranian official explicitly rejected claims that Tehran has agreed to surrender its domestic stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

The pushback, according to Reuters, introduces a sharp narrative divide between Washington and Tehran just hours before both administrations are scheduled to formally announce a finalized Memorandum of Understanding to halt the six-week-old war.

According to the high-ranking Iranian government official, the preliminary text hammered out during frantic weekend backchannel negotiations does not encompass any structural restrictions or removal mandates concerning the regime’s nuclear enrichment capabilities. Tehran asserts that the current diplomatic instrument functions strictly as a localized security framework to separate combat forces and restore maritime trade, rather than a comprehensive, permanent non-proliferation treaty.

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U.S. Central Command (Centcom) on Monday said U.S. forces fired “defensive strikes” in southern Iran amid discussions to bring the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran to an end.

These strikes were intended “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces” — specifically boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites, Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Centcom spokesperson, told The Hill.

“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Hawkins said.

Earlier Monday, Reuters reported explosions in southern Iran in Bandar Abbas city and around coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. and Iran have held a ceasefire since April 7. The stalemate has seen few small attacks since last month, though none have violated the ceasefire’s terms.

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It has been over seven months since Hamas and Israel came to a ceasefire agreement that promised to end the genocide in Gaza. But since then, senior leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad say, Israel and the U.S. have tried to implement terms that Hamas never agreed to—specifically, disarming the resistance while Israeli forces continue to occupy most of Gaza and violate the ceasefire on a daily basis.

President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has unilaterally rewritten the Gaza ceasefire agreement, resistance leaders told Drop Site News, in an effort to compel Palestinians to surrender their liberation cause and institutionalize Israeli domination over the future of the Gaza Strip. Since mid-March, Hamas officials have been summoned to a series of meetings where U.S. officials, regional mediators, and the Trump-appointed “High Representative for Gaza” have pressured the group to disarm, warning a large-scale Israeli military assault may resume if they refuse to capitulate.

This campaign, they said, will fail and ultimately lead to a resumption of the armed struggle. “The [Israeli] aim is to end the Palestinian presence in the Gaza Strip, not merely occupation,” said Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas leader, in an interview with Drop Site. “They are trying to send a message to the Palestinians that there is no solution within Palestine, and that the only solution is for them to leave.”

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Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US’s pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.

The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.

The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.

Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.

The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.

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Israel has continued its attacks on southern Lebanon, hours after ceasefire between the two countries was extended for a further three weeks.

The Israeli military on Friday said it had “eliminated” six Hezbollah fighters in an exchange of fire in the area of Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Health Ministry also reported that two people were killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern area of Touline.

The attacks mark the latest violations of a ceasefire that began on April 16 after weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group.

Israeli forces also remain stationed in southern Lebanon, after establishing a so-called “yellow line” in the region, similar to an Israeli military measure in the besieged Gaza Strip.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday said his country has not decided whether to join another round of negotiations with the U.S., after President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire between the two countries indefinitely.

Baghaei blamed the Trump administration, saying "Washington keeps changing its stance hour by hour and lacks consistency and a unified approach in its decisions," according to Iranian state television.

Iranian and U.S. officials were expected to begin a second round of peace talks on Wednesday, but the trip was delayed as Iran had not agreed to participate. Trump then announced that he was extending the ceasefire until Iran's leaders can "come up with a unified proposal."

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