Iran agrees not to pursue nuclear weapon, Trump says amid renewed Gulf strikes

US President Donald Trump said on June 3 that Iran has agreed not to acquire a nuclear weapon and that he expects to meet the country's new supreme leader, even as fresh missile and drone exchanges tested a fragile ceasefire, he said on the Pod Force One podcast.

Speaking on the interview, Trump said the Iranian leader (believed to be Mojtaba Khamenei) was involved in peace talks with Washington and described the situation as rapidly evolving.

The interviewer, Miranda Divine, prompted Trump, asking if he was negotiating with Mojtaba Khamenei, the recently installed Supreme Leader, where she asked: "Is it the gay Ayatollah"? Trump responded with a straight face, saying, "He's involved", adding that the leadership has a lot of respect for him. 

He said the two sides would probably meet at some point depending on how negotiations developed but cited that Khamenei was "missing a lot of parts," according to his intelligence reports.

Trump said Tehran had agreed not to build a nuclear weapon, the central demand of the talks, while cautioning that it could still reverse that position.

He added that the US did not need ground troops in the region at this stage and was having "great success in Iran militarily". He added that a deal will be reached before the US bank holiday, Labour Day on September 7. 

The comments came as hostilities flared across the Gulf. An Iranian missile and drone attack damaged facilities at Kuwait International Airport and nearby diplomatic missions, killing one person and wounding others, according to Kuwaiti authorities and state media.

Flights were suspended before Kuwait Airways resumed services from Terminal 4. Bahrain's army said it had intercepted three missiles and several drones. Iran said it had struck the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The US military said two Iranian missiles aimed at Kuwait fell short or broke up in flight, and that it had carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz. The strait remains largely closed more than three months after the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran, with oil prices up more than 2% on the day.

Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned of further strikes if the US resumed its attacks, writing on X that any aggressor would be punished swiftly. There has been no verified proof of life for Mojtaba Khamenei since February 28.