US President Donald Trump has stated that Iran's enriched uranium must be destroyed — either handed over to the United States, eliminated on-site in Iran, or disposed of at another mutually acceptable location. The declaration, posted on Truth Social, marks one of the clearest public articulations of Washington's nuclear demands on Tehran amid ongoing diplomatic negotiations.

What Trump Said

In his Truth Social post, Trump outlined three specific pathways for handling Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium. “The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, being witness to this process and event,” he wrote.

Notably, Trump did not specify the quantity of enriched uranium under discussion. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has previously overseen Iran's nuclear activities under various inspection frameworks.

Iran's Position on the Ground

Iran has pushed back sharply against reports suggesting it had agreed to transfer enriched uranium abroad. The semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday rejected a claim by Saudi-based broadcaster Al Hadath that Tehran was prepared to remove its highly enriched uranium from its territory.

Tasnim cited what it described as the actual text of a potential memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two governments. “In the text of the MoU that exists to this day, there is no statement declaring (Iran's) readiness to remove nuclear materials, and Iran has essentially made no commitment regarding nuclear actions in the memorandum,” Tasnim reported, according to the agency.

Broader Deal Framework

Separately, The Washington Post, citing an unnamed Iranian official, reported that the first phase of a possible US-Iran deal would involve Washington releasing $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, the start of minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of a US blockade. However, the Iranian official was quoted as saying the deal does not include a nuclear agreement at this stage.

This comes amid a broader pattern of stop-start diplomacy between Washington and Tehran that has stretched across multiple administrations, with nuclear enrichment levels and stockpile disposal remaining the central sticking points.

What This Means for Negotiations

The public gap between Trump's stated demands and Tehran's publicly disclosed MoU text underscores the fragility of any emerging framework. Iran's insistence that no nuclear commitments have been made in the current MoU directly contradicts the impression Trump's post sought to project. Analysts have noted that public posturing on both sides can complicate back-channel diplomacy, particularly on issues as sensitive as uranium disposal.

With the IAEA positioned as a potential witness to any destruction process, the coming weeks will test whether the two sides can bridge the gap between their public statements and any private understandings.