WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. will work with Iran to recover its enriched uranium and bring \u200bit back to the United States.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to get it together. We’re \u200cgoing to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States,” Trump said during a phone interview.<\/p>\n
Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n He referred \u200bto “nuclear dust” and added that it would be retrieved “very soon.”<\/p>\n Iran denied agreeing to \u200btransfer its enriched uranium to the United States.<\/p>\n “Iran’s enriched uranium is not \u2060going to be transferred anywhere; transferring uranium to the United States has not been \u200ban option for us,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei later told state TV.<\/p>\n Trump’s mention of “nuclear \u200bdust” is a reference to what he believes remains after the United States and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear installations in June last year.<\/p>\n Iran is believed to possess more than 900 pounds of uranium enriched \u200bup to 60% purity. The issue of Iran’s nuclear program has been one of the \u200bthorniest issues in U.S.-Iran negotiations.<\/p>\n Trump has said a primary reason for the war was to prevent Iran \u200cfrom \u2060getting a nuclear weapon. Iran says its enrichment of uranium \u2013 a process that produces fuel for power plants and nuclear warheads depending on its duration \u2013 is strictly for peaceful civilian use.<\/p>\n Trump, clearly excited at the prospect of a deal to end the war, said the U.S. \u200bwill maintain its \u200bnaval blockade against Iran \u2060until an agreement is finalized.<\/p>\n “I think the deal will go very quickly. We’re getting along very well with Iran,” he said.<\/p>\n Trump said \u200bmore talks will be needed to reach a deal and that these \u200bwould take \u2060place “probably over the weekend.” He added that he “might” go to Islamabad once a deal is made.<\/p>\n “I haven’t made that determination,” he said. Trump also said the United States was working with \u2060Iran to \u200bremove mines from the strait.<\/p>\n Responding to a report that \u200bthe United States was considering a $20 billion cash for uranium deal, Trump said: “It’s totally false. No money is changing \u200bhands.”<\/p>\n Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Katharine Jackson; editing by Michelle Nichols and Alistair Bell<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n