Iran replies to US proposal to end war, Trump finds response ‘unacceptable’
Iran had a chance to move toward peace. Instead, Tehran tried to turn Trump’s proposal into a payoff.
Trump says US will not allow Iran to reach enriched uranium
US president says Washington has the nuclear material in Iran ‘surveilled’ and will ‘blow up’ anyone who gets near it.
President Donald Trump has warned that the United States will target any Iranian trying to reach the country’s highly enriched uranium, saying that the nuclear material is under constant surveillance by the US military.
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In an interview with the syndicated TV show Full Measure that aired on Sunday, Trump appeared to play down the significance of the uranium, which is believed to be buried under the rubble of nuclear facilities, remaining in Iran for now.
“We’ll get that at some point, whenever we want. We have it surveilled,” Trump said.
“I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching. If somebody walked in, they can tell you his name, his address, the number of his badge … If anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we’ll blow them up.”
Iran’s highly enriched uranium is one of the major sticking points between Washington and Tehran in ceasefire negotiations to end the 10-week US-Israel war on Iran.
The US wants Iran to transfer the uranium outside the country and completely shut down its nuclear programme, but Tehran has stressed that it will not give up its right to a domestic enrichment programme.
Several international media reports have said that the uranium remains under nuclear sites that the US bombed in June 2025, but Tehran has not confirmed the location of the nuclear material.
Last month, Trump announced that Iran had agreed to allow Washington to retrieve the uranium and bring it to the US – claims that Tehran quickly dismissed.
Trump told Reuters on April 17 that the US would work with Iran “at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery” to retrieve the uranium stockpile at the sites.
“We’ll bring it back to the United States,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei denied Trump’s claim. “Enriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances,” he said.
Iran is estimated to have more than 400kg (882lb) of uranium enriched at 60 percent purity.
Uranium enrichment is a complex process of isolating and garnering the most radioactive variety – isotope – of the element to produce nuclear fuel.
When enriched to around 90 percent purity, uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons.
In 2015, Iran agreed to a multilateral deal that saw Tehran scale back its nuclear programme and cap its uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent under strict international supervision in exchange for lifting sanctions against its economy.
Trump nixed that agreement – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – and started reimposing sanctions on Iran.
In response, Tehran – which denies seeking a nuclear weapon – began to advance its enrichment programme well beyond the limits set by the JCPOA.
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The Houthi missile hit just 75 meters from Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport, narrowly avoiding a direct strike that could have triggered a full-scale war. This needs a powerful response. Any response less than directly striking Khamenei and IRGC commanders means NOTHING. 