Any final deal with Iran must include the US obtaining Iran’s enriched uranium, a senior US official insisted Friday, telling reporters: “If we don’t get the dust, we do not have a deal with Iran,” CNN reports.
However, the official said, “We have a lot of options if they resist giving the dust,” including “continued military, diplomatic, economic leverage points.”
President Donald Trump had been dismissive about obtaining the nuclear material earlier this week, saying during the NATO summit in Turkey that “We’ve already got the nuclear material, because it’s so far underground.”
“Nobody’s going to be able to get it except us,” he added.
The memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran included a point on a “minimum methodology” for Iran to down blend its enriched uranium “on site under the supervision of the IAEA.”
While Iran “reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons” within the MOU, the finer details of enrichment and nuclear were to be worked out in negotiations toward a final deal.
