U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 27th (local time) that Iran will not win sanctions relief in a cessation-of-hostilities deal with the United States merely by giving up highly enriched uranium that can be quickly 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. No sanctions relief."
He added, "They are not giving up highly enriched uranium in return for sanctions relief."
President Trump has put Iran's abandonment of its nuclear weapons program and the removal of its stockpile of enriched uranium refined up to 60% at the top of the conditions for a cessation agreement.
However, regarding where to handle the highly enriched uranium, he had insisted on shipping it to the United States, but on the 25th he said that through cooperation and coordination with Iran it would be destroyed on-site in Iran or at another acceptable location in the presence of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, among others, indicating he could also accept handling it inside Iran or in a third country.
Meanwhile, President Trump reaffirmed his intention to bring Saudi Arabia and others into the Abraham Accords, which center on normalizing relations between Israel and neighboring Arab states.
Asked why Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, should join the Abraham Accords when a path to establishing a Palestinian state has not opened, President Trump said, "Because it would be very good for Saudi Arabia," adding, "It is a very good thing for Saudi Arabia."