live Trump Says Iran Has Been Close To A Deal '4 Or 5 Times'

WASHINGTON -- As Washington weighs its next steps with Tehran, some analysts see familiar patterns emerging -- not from the Middle East, but from the Kremlin's playbook.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute focusing on national security and transatlantic relations, said Iran appears to be borrowing directly from Russia's negotiation strategy: Prolong talks, seek concessions incrementally, and avoid making meaningful commitments while maintaining the appearance of diplomacy.

"The Iranians know what they can get away with. They know how to drag the discussions out, make it look like Trump is achieving something, when in reality, he'll achieve nothing," says Coffey. "And they have learned this from the Russians."

To read the full interview, click here.

The FBI announced that a senior member of the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah group, one of Iran's main proxy groups, named Mohammad Baqir Saad Dawood al-Saadi has been arrested and transferred to the United States for trial.

The New York State Attorney General's Office posted a photo on X on May 15 of the Kataib member alongside Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force who was killed in a US strike during President Donald Trump's first term. Reports say he identified himself as Mohammad Baqir Soleimani.

The United States considers Kataib Hezbollah a terrorist group. Before the Iran war, the group had declared it would fight on behalf of the Islamic republic if war were to break out.

Al-Saadi faces six terrorism-related charges for his activities as a member of Kataib Hezbollah and the Quds Force, the international branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

He is said to have been arrested in Turkey after traveling outside Iraq.

US President Donald Trump said that Iran has come close to reaching a full agreement with the United States "four or five times" but repeatedly reversed course at the last minute.

"Every time they agree, the next day it's like we didn't even talk," Trump told Fox News on May 15. "And this has happened four or five times. There's something wrong with them. Honestly, they're crazy."

He added: "And because they're crazy, they can't have a nuclear weapon."

Trump also claimed Iran had previously agreed to hand over its enriched uranium stockpile during negotiations with the United States.

"No nukes," Trump said. "They were going to give us the nuclear dust. Whatever we wanted."

In another appearance, Trump said: "Iran told me very strongly...they intend to give us the nuclear dust, as I call it," referring to enriched uranium allegedly buried at bombed nuclear sites.

He also said Iranian officials had told the United States: "You will have to take it out. We don't have the capability of doing it."

Trump made similar comments to reporters before departing for China, saying Iran had at one point agreed to surrender enriched nuclear material as part of a broader settlement.

Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, have denied accepting US conditions.

"The issue of enrichment is complicated, and in order to reach a conclusion with the American side, we proposed that this discussion be postponed," Araqchi said on May 15.

Trump also told Fox News in the interview that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed with him that the war should end.

We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.

Top diplomats from BRICS grouping of nations -- including bitter enemies Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- did not issue a joint statement on May 15 after a two-day summit in Delhi.

Tehran had sought to have the grouping of emerging economies condemn the US-Israeli war with Iran and accused the UAE, a US ally, of direct ⁠involvement in military operations against the Islamic republic.

"There were differing views among some members as regards the situation in the West Asia/Middle East region," India said in a statement and outcome document.

BRICS consists of Brazil, ‌Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the UAE.

Tehran has launched missiles and drones at the UAE in retaliation for the US-Israeli air strikes that began on February 28. The fighting is mostly paused with the introduction of a cease-fire agreed to by the US and Tehran.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, on May 11 reported that the UAE had carried out military operations on ‌Iran in early April.

The UAE ⁠did not confirm the report, but on May 16 it said all actions taken came within its framework of defensive measures ⁠aimed at protecting ‌its sovereignty, civilians, and vital infrastructure.

At least six people were killed in a suspected Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's state news agency NNA, just hours after the US announced that a cease-fire in the country had been extended for 45 days.

NNA on May 15 said the attack targeted a civil defense center in the Nabatieh district. It added that 22 people were wounded.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Washington earlier announced that the current cease-fire between Israel and the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia would be extended by 45 days. The cease-fire has been fragile since it was first announced on April 16, with both sides claiming that the other had violated the truce.

A militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, while the EU has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political branch.

Authorities in Lebanese say some 2,900 people have been killed since fighting resumed in early March, including about 200 children.

With reporting by dpa

China's ambassador to the UN on May 15 criticized a proposed US-Bahraini resolution on the ⁠Strait of Hormuz, ⁠that would have demanded that Iran cease attacks and mining in the crucial waterway.

Diplomats have said it is likely to meet vetoes by Russia and China if it comes to a vote. Both countries vetoed a similar US-backed resolution in April, claiming it was biased against Iran.

"We don't think the content is right, and the timing is not right," China's UN envoy,

, said in a video clip posted by the Pass Blue news portal, which focuses on UN news.

"What we need is to urge both sides to engage in serious and good-faith negotiations that can resolve the issue. So passing a resolution at this stage, ‌we don't think is going to be helpful," he said.

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump visited Beijing to meet with ⁠Chinese leader Xi Jinping in which they agreed that the strait must remain open. Xi made clear China's opposition to the militarization of the waterway and any effort to charge a toll for its use.

In retaliation for US-Israeli air strikes -- now paused as part of a cease-fire -- Tehran effectively closed the strait and has said it will begin charging tolls through the international waterway, through which some 20 percent of the world's oil and gas supplies transit.

With reporting by Reuters

The US State Department said on May 15 that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of a cease-fire to "enable further progress" and announced US-mediated follow-up talks later this month and in June.

"We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott wrote on X.

Israel has been launching strikes targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon since March 2, two days after the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, when Hezbollah forces opened fire in support of Tehran.

Hezbollah is a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union has only blacklisted its armed wing.

A truce in place since April 17 has reduced fighting between Israel and Hezbollah but has not stopped it; hundreds of people have been killed in strikes since then and each side has accused the other of numerous violations.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) rejected what it called Tehran’s “attempts to justify” its attacks on Gulf countries after Iran accused Abu Dhabi of being an “active partner” in the US military campaign.

In a statement released on May 15, the UAE’s Minister of State Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar affirmed the country's "categorical rejection of Iranian claims and attempts to justify Iranian terrorist attacks.”

"The UAE reserves all its sovereign, legal, diplomatic, and military rights to confront any threat, claim, or hostile act," Marar said. "It reserves its full and legitimate right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity to ensure the protection of its citizens, residents, and visitors."

A day earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on Telegram that the UAE has been "an active partner" in what he called "US aggression."

In a separate statement cited by Iranian media, Araqchi said he had “advised the representative of the UAE that [Israel] and the United States cannot guarantee their security” and pointed to the “consequences” of the Iranian air strikes on US military bases in the country’s territory.

The UAE said it has been subjected to about 3,000 missile and drone attacks since the beginning of the joint US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.

Twenty Iranians and 11 Pakistanis who were aboard vessels “seized in the high seas by the United States” are being repatriated, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X on May 15.

All 31 “are in good health and high spirits,” Dar said, adding that they had reached Bangkok from Singapore and boarded a flight to Islamabad. The Iranians “will then be facilitated to return to their homeland.”

Dar thanked the governments of Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, for their support in the operation.

The United States imposed a naval blockade on Iran in mid-April, about six weeks after the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.