US President Donald Trump has said the United States will ultimately recover Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, even as Tehran insists it will not surrender the material.
“We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Nuclear Tensions With Iran
Iran is believed to hold around 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Trump said the material was buried following US and Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.
He added that recovering the stockpile is central to his administration’s objective of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has reportedly issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium must not be transferred abroad, according to senior Iranian sources.
Strategic Context
The comments come amid continued tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme, with both sides maintaining sharply different positions on enrichment limits and international oversight.
(with inputs from Reuters)
