Trump: Iran to Hand Over Enriched Uranium

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that Iran has agreed to transfer a stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium. It appears that Tehran plans to provide this material to inspectors, which could eliminate the need for U.S. ground forces to secure it.

CBS News reported that Iran “agreed to all” of Trump’s demands. This includes a permanent end to uranium enrichment and a cessation of support for proxy terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Trump stated, “Ground forces are not needed to remove enriched uranium from Iran,” according to CBS Senior White House Correspondent Jiang Weijia. Previously, Trump had suggested deploying U.S. special forces to either secure or destroy Iran’s uranium stockpile.

Meanwhile, multiple media outlets confirmed that the Iranian government had “agreed to hand over enriched uranium supplies.”

“We’re going to work together. We’re going to work with Iran to advance at a slow pace and start drilling with big machines,” the president mentioned during a phone interview with Reuters.

“I think the deal will move very quickly. We’re doing very well with Iran,” he added.

President Trump has often referred to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile as “nuclear dust,” implying that the U.S. believes this uranium was crushed and buried during their nuclear development. This statement follows the U.S. bombing of Iran’s major uranium enrichment facilities in June 2025.

Some military analysts think that Iran’s uranium stockpile was likely concealed at a facility near Isfahan, one of three sites heavily damaged in the U.S. attack.

Iran has not complied with requests from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors regarding the status and location of its uranium. IAEA estimates suggest Iran possesses around 400 kilograms of uranium, enriched well beyond civilian applications but just below the nuclear weapons threshold.

Amidst previous denials, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi admitted on March 14 that Iran has enough enriched material to produce multiple nuclear warheads if the process is pushed to completion. He stated that Iran has 440 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, aligning closely with IAEA estimates.

Trump’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, noted that the last round of nuclear negotiations collapsed after Iranian representatives claimed they had sufficient enriched uranium to create “11 nuclear bombs.” This assertion prompted the U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury.