Iran is believed to possess about 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, officials say.
President Donald Trump on Thursday reaffirmed that the U.S. government should take control of Iran’s buried uranium as part of a deal ending the conflict with Iran, suggesting it would be destroyed.
“We will get it. We don’t need it. We don’t want it,” Trump said at the White House, referring to the material. “We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.”
Iran is believed to possess about 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which Trump has said is one of the reasons for the U.S. strikes against Iran that started in February. Tehran has long insisted that it has the right to enrich uranium and claims it is for peaceful purposes.
Previously, Trump said that the uranium is buried underneath rubble after joint U.S.–Israeli strikes last year on the country’s nuclear facilities.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also said that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, with Vance recently telling White House reporters that Iran also must work with the administration “on a process” to commit that the country will not pursue its nuclear program in the future.
Earlier this week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned future U.S.–Israeli military strikes against the country would lead to greater conflict in the Middle East and beyond.
“The regional war that was promised will this time be extended beyond the region, and our crushing blows will bring you to ruin in places you cannot imagine,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said through Iran’s semi-official Mehr News agency on May 20.
The Iran ceasefire has mostly held, though there was a spike in attacks on shipping and on Gulf states in early May when Trump announced a naval mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, only to call it off about two days later.
