U.S. President Donald Trump on the 17th local time denied a report that talks were underway to pay an economic price to Iran and secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
On the same day, Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, "The United States will secure 'all Nuclear Dust' created by our great B-2 bombers, and no money will change hands in any form."
The term nuclear dust is interpreted as Trump referring to Iran's highly enriched uranium at the 60% level, known to total about 440 kilograms. It is said to have remained buried underground after U.S. bombings of key nuclear facilities including Isfahan and Natanz in June last year.
Earlier, Axios reported that discussions were underway on a plan in which Iran would agree to ship out part of its highly enriched uranium and the United States would unfreeze $20 billion (about 29.2 trillion won) of Iran's overseas frozen asset. Trump is seen as pushing back on that via his post.
Meanwhile, Trump, addressing uncertainty over the continuation of the 10-day Israel-Lebanon cease-fire, said, "Israel will no longer bomb Lebanon," adding, "That is prohibited by the United States."
On concerns that Hezbollah, a pro-Iran armed group not participating in the cease-fire, could continue its offensive, Trump said, "The United States will separately work with Lebanon to address the Hezbollah issue in an appropriate manner."