US President Donald Trump has said the US will obtain access to Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile in some form, warning that if negotiations fail, the transfer could take place in a “less friendly manner”.
He previously said Iran had “agreed to everything” in talks with the United States, including a joint effort to remove enriched uranium from the country and bring it to the United States.
President Trump: Iran ‘agreed to everything’
President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has “agreed to everything” in talks with the United States, including working together to remove enriched uranium from Iran and bring it back to the United States. CNN’s Kristen Holmes reports.
Asked in an interview with CBS if the effort would require U.S. troops, Trump said, “No, we don’t have troops.” He added: “We’ll go down and get it with them and then we’ll get it. We’ll get it together. Because by then we’ll have an agreement, and with an agreement we won’t have to fight.”
He later reiterated this claim at a rally in Arizona, outlining key points of a potential deal with Iran.
“The United States is going to get all the nuclear dust. You know what nuclear dust is? It was that white powdery substance that our B2 bombers produced…We were going to take it anyway,” he said, adding, “But taking it as is is a little more dangerous.”
President Trump has used “nuclear dust” to refer to Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile, but the term is unknown in the nuclear industry.
A senior Iranian official called Trump’s claims “alternative facts.” The official denied that Iran had agreed to ship its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States, calling the request “a dud.”
The official also denied the US leader’s claim that Iran had agreed to an indefinite moratorium on uranium enrichment, saying it would “never accept” that Iran is an “exception to international law.” The official added that enrichment remains one of the main points of contention between the two countries.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo and Frederik Pleitgen contributed reporting.
