FM spox: Enriched uranium not to be transferred ‘anywhere’
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country's stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred "anywhere," dismissing an earlier claim by US President Donald Trump that Tehran had agreed to hand it over to Washington.
Esmaeil Baqaei in an interview with Iran’s state TV on Friday said that the transfer of Iran's enriched uranium to the US has never been raised in negotiations in Pakistan.
Baqaei’s remarks came after the US president claimed in a post on social media that the US would receive Iran’s enriched uranium.
"The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers," Trump claimed.
On Friday, Pakistan hosted negotiations between Iran and the US to put an end to a US-Israeli aggression against Iran. However, the negotiations in Islamabad failed to produce an agreement due to the American delegation’s excessive demands.
The talks followed a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire agreement which temporarily ended the aggression which began on February 28.
Baqaei said recent talks in Pakistan centered on solving the ongoing conflict and not on recovering Iran's uranium.
“The previous negotiations focused on the nuclear issue, but now the negotiations are focused on ending the war, and naturally, the range of topics discussed has become wider and more diverse," he said.
He also rejected the idea of the suspension of uranium enrichment by Iran, describing it a media campaign to influence the negotiations.
Iran possessed around 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium before the US-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, and the fate of the stockpile has been a central focus of discussions since then.
Before the strikes, Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent, exceeding the 3.67% limit set under the now-defunct 2015 nuclear agreement with the United States and other countries.