Trump returns to more definitive tone on controlling Iran’s uranium

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (May 21, 2026) returned to a more definitive tone on controlling Iran’s uranium.

Last week, Mr. Trump suggested that he might be OK with some 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried beneath Iranian nuclear facilities that were targeted by U.S. military strikes last year remaining entombed under those sites.

But speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday (May 21, 2026), Mr. Trump reverted to a more definitive tone about the U.S. taking control of the uranium as part of any potential peace agreement with Iran.

“We will get it. We don’t need it. We don’t want it,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ll probably destroy it after we get it, but we’re not going to let them have it.”

Last week, Mr. Trump told Fox News‘ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”