Trump says US plans to retrieve and destroy Iran's enriched uranium after conflict ends
US President Donald Trump has said Washington plans to retrieve Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium once the conflict ends. He said the material would then be destroyed, while acknowledging that accessing it during fighting would be too dangerous for American personnel. The comments add a new public detail to the nuclear dispute that has become a major obstacle in negotiations linked to the wider US-Israel war on Iran.
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Trump said the uranium issue remained difficult, but insisted the US still intended to secure the material. He referred to the role of B-2 bombers in recent strikes, saying they had carried out an operation in darkness and dropped large bombs. He also said he did not want to put US personnel at risk while hostilities continued, but that "when it's over" it was agreed the US would go in with others, retrieve the material and destroy it.
The president also said talks with Iran were going "very well" and could produce results by the weekend. He told reporters that a deal might not happen, but that it could happen over the coming weekend. Trump added that he wanted discussions on Lebanon to be kept separate from US-Iran talks, saying he preferred a separate track because the issues were distinct.
The comments matter because enriched uranium is central to any nuclear agreement and to concerns about Iran's capabilities. The stockpile has been described as a major stumbling block in negotiations, and Trump's remarks suggest the issue remains tied to both military pressure and diplomacy. His insistence that the material be destroyed after the conflict also underlines how nuclear security is being treated as part of the end-state of the confrontation, not just a bargaining point.
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The exchange also comes against the backdrop of a broader regional war involving the US and Israel against Iran. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the war would only end when hostilities in Lebanon end, linking the conflict to a wider regional settlement. That position suggests the nuclear talks are unfolding alongside parallel disputes over ceasefires and regional security, making any agreement more complex.
Trump also invoked the risk of past hostage crises in Iran, saying he did not want to expose American personnel to similar danger. His remarks indicate that any attempt to secure the uranium would likely depend on a post-conflict arrangement and cooperation with other parties. What remains unclear is how the material would be located, who would take part in retrieving it, and whether the talks Trump described as progressing well will produce any concrete agreement by the weekend.
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