President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile will either be transferred to the United States or destroyed inside Iran under international supervision.
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the uranium would either be “immediately turned over” to the United States to be destroyed or eliminated inside Iran or another approved location.
“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s comments followed a report Saturday from the New York Times citing two U.S. officials who said Iran had broadly agreed to surrender its near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile.
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According to the report, the development represented a potentially significant breakthrough for the Trump administration after Iranian officials had previously sought to separate the uranium issue from initial ceasefire discussions and defer it to later negotiations.
The apparent shift came after Reuters reported Thursday that two senior Iranian sources said Iran’s leadership opposed allowing the enriched uranium to leave the country.
“The Supreme Leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” one Iranian source told Reuters.
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