Washington DC, April 17
US President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that Iran has agreed to return its "nuclear dust" to the United States, asserting that the understanding comes as part of broader assurances from Tehran, as part of the peace deal, not to pursue its ambition to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump emphasised that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons remains a top priority for his administration.
"It is very important that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. And they've agreed to that. Iran's agreed to that and they've agreed to it very powerfully," he said.
"They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that's way underground because of the attack we made with the B2 bombers. We have a lot of agreement with Iran, and I think something's going to happen very positively," the US President added.
The remarks come amid diplomatic engagements between Tehran and Washington in order to achieve a complete halt to the hostilities in West Asia, as the fragileceasefire continues between the two sides.
Meanwhile, Trump said it remains unclear whether the ceasefire with Iran will be extended, even as he expressed optimism about ongoing negotiations and indicated that the next round of talks could take place over the weekend.
Responding to a question on extending the ceasefire, President Trump said, "We're doing very well. I can tell you, maybe it'll happen before that. I'm not sure it needs to be extended. Just so you know, Iran wants to make a deal, and we're dealing very nicely with them. We've got to have no nuclear weapons. If we do, that's a big factor, and they're willing to do things today that they weren't willing to do two months ago."
He added that the US is currently focused on concluding a deal with Iran, suggesting that progress in talks could make an extension unnecessary.
"We're focused so much right now on Iran, seeing if we can get that completed, and I think we're going to be in very good shape. And I think if you look, the stock market is good, the oil prices are coming down, and it's looking very good that we're going to make a deal with Iran. And it's going to be a good deal, it's going to be a deal with no nuclear weapon," Trump said.
On the timeline for further negotiations, the US President indicated that the next in-person round may happen soon.
"Probably maybe over the weekend," the US President added.
- ANI
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