Trump vows US will retrieve uranium from Iran
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US President Donald Trump speaking in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- President Trump vowed the US will recover and destroy Iran's 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium to prevent nuclear weapons.
- Iran's Supreme Leader directed its near-weapons-grade uranium not be sent abroad, defying US demands.
- Trump claims the uranium was buried by US and Israeli airstrikes, central to his anti-Iran objective.
AI generated
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump vowed on May 21 that the United States will eventually recover Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium despite comments from Iran that it will not hand over 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,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.
Iran is believed to possess about 400kg of highly enriched uranium, which Mr Trump says was buried by US and Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.
Retrieving the uranium is part of Mr Trump’s central objective of his war on Iran that Tehran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters. REUTERS
