US requires enriched uranium to close deal with Iran, official says

Any final deal with Iran must include the United States obtaining the country's enriched uranium, a senior American official said on Friday. To journalists, he declared: "If we don't keep the material, we won't have a deal with Iran."

However, the official said "we have many options if they resist handing over the material," including "continued military, diplomatic and economic pressure points."

President Donald Trump had downplayed the importance of obtaining the nuclear material earlier this week. During the NATO summit in Türkiye, he stated that "we already have the nuclear material, because it is far below the surface."

"No one will be able to get it except us," he added.

The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran included a point about a "minimum methodology" for Iran to reduce the concentration of its enriched uranium "in situ, under the supervision of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)."

Although Iran "reaffirms that it will not acquire or develop nuclear weapons" within the memorandum of understanding, the more specific details on enrichment and nuclear issues would still be worked out in negotiations for a final agreement.

Source: CNN