U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed his position to retrieve enriched uranium held by Iran and bring it to the United States.
According to foreign media reports on Oct. 18, Trump attended an event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA in Arizona on Oct. 17 local time and said, "The United States will secure all of (Iran's) nuclear dust." He described nuclear dust as "a white powdery substance created by our great B-2 bombers one late evening seven months ago."
The term "nuclear dust" refers to Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles that remained at the site after the United States bombed Iran's underground nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs dropped from B-2 stealth strategic bombers during the "12-day war" between Israel and Iran last June.
When Trump earlier disclosed his plan to retrieve the enriched uranium in a telephone interview with Reuters, Iran pushed back, saying "the enriched uranium will not be transferred anywhere." Trump, however, reiterated his claim that Iran's enriched uranium would be brought to the United States.
In that interview, Trump said, "We were going to bring it over anyway, but bringing it that way (by deploying troops such as special forces) is a little more dangerous. We'll go in with Iran and use excavation equipment to secure it."
Regarding the mines laid in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the war, Trump explained that "Iran has removed or is removing all the mines with the help of the United States."
"While the situation in the (Hormuz) Strait was nearly ending harmlessly, I received a phone call from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) asking, 'Do you want help?'" Trump said. "Thank you very much, NATO." Trump had previously criticized NATO for failing to assist during the war with Iran or in securing passage through the Strait of Hormuz and had raised the possibility of withdrawal, once again expressing his displeasure with the alliance.
"I told them (NATO), 'You might have been needed two months ago, but your help is no longer needed now,'" Trump added. "Because when we needed them, they were of no use at all."
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, when asked whether he would personally attend the second round of negotiations expected to take place in Pakistan, the mediator country, Trump told Bloomberg, "I might." The first round of negotiations held in Pakistan on Oct. 11 was led by Vice President J.D. Vance on the U.S. side.
