US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on May 27, 2026 in Washington, DC, US.
Ivan Vucci | reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday poured cold water on the possibility of Iran transferring its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to Russia or China as part of any deal to end the war with the United States.
“No, I wouldn’t be comfortable with that arrangement,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
The Kremlin, which has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, had previously said it would Accept Iran’s enriched uranium To help facilitate a peace agreement.
It is speculated that China is also ready to take that material, as news outlets have said informed.
Trump announced in a satya social post It said on Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium would be destroyed either in the US, in the Islamic Republic itself, or “at another acceptable location”.
The comments at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting came as the US and Iran continue to signal that they are working toward at least a short-term deal to end the three-month-old war in the Middle East.
Oil prices, which have risen dramatically due to the war’s impact on global energy supplies, fell after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the meeting that the US wanted to give diplomacy “every chance to succeed.”
Trump also said the US is “not talking about any easing of sanctions” on Iran, or giving them any money as part of the deal.
“No restrictions, no money, no nothing,” he said at the meeting. “We have control over the money that they claim is theirs. We will have control over that money. When they behave properly, and when they do the right thing, we will let them keep their money, but we’re not doing that right now.”
“One thing is not dependent on the other,” he said.
He also said he would not accept a short-term deal that would give Iran control over the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil-shipping route whose tanker traffic has been shut down amid the war. Iran did not control the waterway before the US and Israel started the war against Iran.
“The strait will be open to everybody,” Trump said. “We will keep an eye on it, but no one will control it. That’s part of our negotiation.”