Trump Draws Red Line on Iran: Enriched Uranium Must Be Destroyed or Handed Over
Trump says Iran’s “enriched uranium dust” should not remain in Iranian hands, arguing the material should either be turned over to the United States for removal and destruction or-preferably-destroyed on site (or at another approved location) under the supervision of Iran’s counterparts/atomic energy authorities.
The article notes Iran has about 970 pounds of enriched uranium and that some of it is tough to access because it was reportedly buried under rubble after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last June. It also highlights commentary suggesting that without U.S. “boots on the ground,” retrieving or overseeing disposal would be challenging, a point echoed by Sen. Rick Scott.
Complicating matters are iranian statements indicating the stockpile should not leave the country,with concerns that exporting it could increase vulnerability to attack from israel. The piece further claims that U.S. leverage in negotiations centers on a condition framed as “no dust, no dollars,” suggesting Iran won’t receive major relief unless it produces concrete results related to the uranium’s disposition-even though the debate is largely about how Iran can present the process to its own leadership and public.
When the (nuclear) dust settles, President Donald Trump says it will not be in Iranian hands.
“The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably … destroyed in place,” Trump wrote Monday on .
Trump said the preferred option is that “in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the material would be “destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event.”
Iran has about 970 pounds of enriched uranium, according to the Associated Press.
Much of what Iran has is hard to reach because it was buried underneath rubble when the U.S. attacked Iranian nuclear facilities last June.
That has led some commentators to speculate that the only sure way to keep the enriched uranium out of Iranian hands is to have U.S. troops on the ground in Iran to either retrieve the uranium or oversee the process.
“No one has given me a briefing on how you would do it without boots on the ground,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has said. “It doesn’t mean you can’t. But no one’s ever briefed me about it.”
Complicating the issue is that Iran has issued statements in the past suggesting the uranium is not going anywhere.
“The Supreme Leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” Reuters quoted one Iranian source as saying.
Iran’s fear is that sending the uranium outside the country would make Iran more vulnerable to an attack from Israel, which has taken the position that the war is not over as long as Iran has the uranium.
A report in the New York Post said that getting the uranium is a linchpin of any peace deal.
“No dust, no dollars — in other words, no highly enriched uranium, then the Iranians aren’t going to get any real relief,” a U.S. official said.
“If they do nothing, they get nothing. If they do a lot, they can actually get a lot,” the official said.
Just briefed by a senior Trump admin official. I feel VERY good about where the Iran negotiations are going.
TOPLINE: “NO DUST, NO DOLLARS” — Iran doesn’t get a dime unless they actually produce real results.
Details:
The Trump administration believes it is now just days away…
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) May 24, 2026
“No one disputes that the stockpiled enriched material will be disposed of. It’s a question about how,” the official said, noting that “national pride considerations” are a complication from the Iranian perspective.
“There is a political value in the United States to getting it. There is obviously a political value in the Iranians not handing it over to the United States,” he said.
“A lot of the debate is not really what happens to the stockpiled material. But it’s how the Iranians can sell it to their own hardliners and to their own population in a way that gets us what we need as well, and that’s really the conversation that’s happening,” he said.
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