U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 27th (local time) that Iran will not win sanctions relief in end-of-war talks with the United States merely by giving up highly enriched uranium that can be rapidly weaponized.
In a brief phone call with U.S. public broadcaster PBS that day, when asked whether Iran would give up highly enriched uranium in return for sanctions relief, President Trump answered, "No. Not at all. Not sanctions relief."
He added, "They are not giving up highly enriched uranium in exchange for sanctions relief."
President Trump has put the abandonment of Iran's nuclear weapons program and the removal of its stockpile of enriched uranium, which it has enriched up to 60%, at the top of the conditions for an end-of-war agreement.
However, while he had argued that the material should be shipped to the United States for disposition, on the 25th he said it would be disposed of locally in Iran through cooperation and coordination with Iran, or at another acceptable location with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others present, indicating he could accept handling it inside Iran or in a third country.
Meanwhile, President Trump reaffirmed his intention to bring additional countries such as Saudi Arabia into the "Abraham Accords," which center on normalizing relations between Israel and surrounding Arab nations.
Asked why Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, should join the Abraham Accords when a path to establishing a Palestinian state has not opened, President Trump said, "Because it (joining the Abraham Accords) is very good for Saudi Arabia," adding, "It is a very good thing for Saudi Arabia."