President Donald Trump on Thursday reaffirmed that the U.S. government should take control of Iran’s buried uranium as part of a deal ending the conflict with Iran, suggesting it would be destroyed.
“We will get it. We don’t need it. We don’t want it,” Trump said at the White House, referring to the material. “We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.”
Iran is believed to possess about 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which Trump has said is one of the reasons for the U.S. strikes against Iran that started in February. Tehran has long insisted that it has the right to enrich uranium and claims it is for peaceful purposes.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also said that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, with Vance recently telling White House reporters that Iran also must work with the administration “on a process” to commit that the country will not pursue its nuclear program in the future.
Earlier this week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned future U.S.–Israeli military strikes against the country would lead to greater conflict in the Middle East and beyond.
“The regional war that was promised will this time be extended beyond the region, and our crushing blows will bring you to ruin in places you cannot imagine,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said through Iran’s semi-official Mehr News agency on May 20.
The Iran ceasefire has mostly held, though there was a spike in attacks on shipping and on Gulf states in early May when Trump announced a naval mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, only to call it off about two days later.
This week saw a new volley of drones launched at Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which said the drones came from Iraq, where militia allied to Iran operate. Jordan reported shooting down a drone on May 20.
Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to all ships apart from its own since the U.S.–Israeli campaign began in February, leading to the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.
The United States responded last month with its own blockade of Iran’s ports, with the U.S. military saying that it has stopped or redirected more than 94 ships traveling to and from Iran.
In an update on Thursday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it also disabled four vessels since the blockade, which is designed to pressure Tehran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz and coming to a deal to end the war.
The U.S. military also said on Wednesday that it boarded an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was suspected of trying to violate the blockade. CENTCOM said the M/T Celestial Sea was searched and redirected after being suspected of trying to head to an Iranian port.
The incident marks at least the fifth commercial vessel to be boarded since the Trump administration imposed the blockade on Iranian shipping.