Iran disagrees with Trump’s claims of excavating enriched uranium after opening Strait of Hormuz
Following Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announcement that “in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire”, Donald Trump warned the US blockade of Iran’s ports “will remain in full force and effect” until a “transaction with Iran is 100% complete and fully signed”.
Speaking to supporters at the Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump said the “process should go very quickly”, and most of the points were already negotiated, and claimed that the US and Iran will jointly excavate enriched uranium, or “nuclear dust”, and remove it from Iran.
“The USA will get all nuclear dust … we’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, however, disagreed with those claims and said the “enriched uranium from Iran is not going to be transferred anywhere”.
“The fact that they are expressing such positions should make us more alert than before, to see who we are facing,” said Baghaei in an interview on the country’s state TV.
He also said the US’ naval blockade — which the US military says has turned back 19 ships so far — “means a violation of the ceasefire, if it continues”.
The ceasefire in Lebanon and the reopening of the strait marked key progress in Washington’s push for a broader deal to end its war with Iran, after Tehran insisted that halting the Lebanon fighting must be part of any agreement.
The fighting in Lebanon began on 2 March, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel days after the wider Middle East war began and in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called the reopening of the Strait “a step in the right direction” and urged full freedom of navigation through the waterway.
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