US President Donald Trump has suggested that efforts to track and secure Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium may be driven more by political messaging than by immediate security needs, even as the issue continues to dominate delicate ceasefire discussions between Washington and Tehran.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity from China, Trump said he would personally prefer the uranium to remain under US control, but questioned the urgency surrounding it. “I just feel better if I got it, actually, but it’s — I think it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else,” he remarked, according to AFP.
His comments come at a time when diplomatic efforts are underway to stabilise a fragile ceasefire following the 10-week US-Israel conflict with Iran, which began after coordinated strikes ordered by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28. While active fighting has eased, negotiations remain tense, with Iran’s nuclear programme emerging as the key unresolved issue.
Israeli officials have maintained that Iran’s highly enriched uranium poses a long-term security threat and insist that any final agreement must include strict safeguards to prevent Tehran from rebuilding its nuclear capabilities. Reports suggest the US is pushing for Iran to transfer its uranium stockpile abroad and fully dismantle its nuclear programme as part of a broader peace settlement.
However, Iran has strongly rejected these demands, arguing that its right to enrich uranium domestically is a matter of sovereignty and scientific advancement. Iranian leadership has made it clear that it will not agree to surrender its enrichment capability entirely, even for civilian use.
As a result, the disagreement over uranium enrichment remains one of the most difficult obstacles in the ongoing negotiations, with diplomats warning that both sides are still far apart on a long-term resolution.
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