In a phone call this week, US President Donald Trump rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to transfer Iran's enriched uranium to Russia as part of an agreement to end the escalating war in the Middle East.
According to sources quoted by Axios, Mr. Putin's proposal is to bring Iran's entire high-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia for control, thereby reducing the risk of Tehran rapidly developing nuclear weapons.
Iran's uranium depot is currently believed to have about 450kg of uranium enriched to 60%. To make nuclear weapons, 90% enriched uranium is needed. According to experts, the above material can be converted into more than 10 nuclear warheads if further enriched.
Therefore, controlling or neutralizing this uranium stockpile has become one of the most important goals of the US and Israel in the war with Iran.
According to sources, Mr. Putin has proposed several options to end the US-Iran conflict, including the proposal that Russia receives Iran's enriched uranium.
This idea is not entirely new. Russia once played a similar role in the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal when Moscow received part of Iran's low-enriched uranium.
As a nuclear power with full technical infrastructure, Russia is considered one of the few countries capable of safely storing and managing this sensitive material.
In theory, transferring uranium to Russia could help eliminate the risk of Iran rapidly developing nuclear weapons without the need for the US or Israel to deploy special forces into Iranian territory to control the material stockpile.
However, Washington rejected the proposal.
A US official told Axios that Washington's goal is to ensure that uranium is strictly controlled, not just simply transferred to another country.
This is not the first time this proposal has been made, but it has never been accepted," the official said.
Before the war broke out, Russia also raised a similar idea in the nuclear talks between the US and Iran in May.
At that time, Tehran refused to transfer uranium abroad. Instead, Iran proposed diluting uranium domestically under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It is not yet clear whether Iran is willing to accept the option of transferring uranium out of its territory in the context of escalating war.
While negotiations continue behind the scenes, Washington still leaves open many options to control Iran's uranium stockpile.
According to Axios, the US and Israel have discussed the possibility of deploying special forces to Iran in the later stages of the war to directly control the nuclear material stockpile.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Washington has "many options" to deal with this issue, including the possibility of Iran voluntarily handing over its uranium stockpile.
“We have options. But I won't elaborate on how far we are willing to go,” Mr. Hegseth said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump appeared more cautious. In an interview with Fox News Radio, he said that Iran's control of uranium is not a immediate priority.
Currently, we are not focusing on this, but we may consider it at some point," he said.
