President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has “agreed to everything” in talks with the United States, including working jointly to remove enriched uranium from the country and bringing it to the US.
Trump says Iran ‘has agreed to everything’
President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran has “agreed to everything” in talks with the US, including working together to remove enriched uranium from Iran and bringing it back to the United States. CNN’s Kristen Holmes reports.
Trump says Iran ‘has agreed to everything’
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Iranian officials, however, said there are no plans for them to forfeit their stockpile of enriched uranium.
“No. No troops,” Trump said in a phone interview with CBS, when asked if the effort would require US troops on the ground. He added that “we’ll go down and get it with them, and then we’ll take it. We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better.
“We would have done it the other way if we had to,” he said.
The president said the material would ultimately be transported to the United States.
When asked about timing, Trump said the two sides are expected to meet this weekend and that the US would continue its blockade of Iranian ports “until we get it done.”
Iran denied that it agreed to a deal that would involve the transfer its enriched uranium stockpile.
“Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere; transferring uranium to the United States has not been an option,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
“Iran’s enriched uranium is sacred to us like the soil of Iran,” Baghaei said.
He added that there is “no ambiguity regarding any part of the negotiations; we have clearly stated our positions.”
Trump also told CBS that Iran had agreed to stop backing terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
The president on Friday repeatedly expressed confidence that a deal will be reached “in the next day or two” and that peace talks will “likely” be held this weekend.