Iran has once again refused to handover its stockpile of enriched uranium to the US, rejecting President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Islamic Republic has agreed to transfer it. The Middle East nation maintained that the uranium stockpile will remain under its control and won’t be “transferred anywhere”.
“Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told state TV. “Transfer of Iran’s enriched uranium to the US has never been raised in negotiations.”
Baqaei said the last week’s talks with the US in Islamabad, Pakistan, focused on mainly ending the conflict in the Middle East that started on February 28 and not on recovering Iran’s enriched uranium. Additionally, discussions were held on lifting sanctions and getting compensation for the damaged caused by the ongoing conflict.
“The previous negotiations focused on the nuclear issue, but now the negotiations are focused on ending the war, and naturally the range of topics discussed has become wider and more diverse,” he said. “The 10-point plan for lifting sanctions is very important to us. The issue of compensation for the damages incurred during the imposed war is of particular importance.”
Trump’s claim and Iran’s nuclear programme
For long, the US has been critical of Iran’s nuclear programme and stressed that Tehran could never be allowed to get a hand on nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iran, under the peace deal, has finally agreed to handover its stockpile of uranium, but Tehran has repeatedly denied it.ย
“We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators. We need the biggest excavators you can imagine. But we’re going in together with Iran, we’re going to get it, and we’re going to take it back home to the USA,” Trump said, while speaking at the Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona.ย
Before the 12-day war with the US in June last year, Iran had 40 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, as per the calculation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This was more than 3.67 per cent limit set under the 2015 agreement which the US later withdrew from.
As of now, Iran still has uranium enriched both to 60 percent, close to the 90-percent level required to make an atomic bomb, as well as a stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent, as per a report by AFP.ย
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