President Donald Trump stunned onlookers Tuesday after casually suggesting that the United States abandon a key demand he’s made throughout the duration of the U.S. war against Iran.
While attending the Group of Seven conference in France, Trump spoke with reporters about the freshly signed tentative peace deal his administration reached with Iran on Sunday, during which he spoke to his long-held goal of seizing Iran’s supply of enriched uranium.
Trump has previously said that any agreement with Iran would have to ensure that the country’s enriched uranium would be “satisfactorily handled,” and as recently as last month, demanded that Iran’s enriched uranium be given to the United States “immediately” or destroyed elsewhere. This comes in spite of experts’ assessment that Iran’s uranium supply is not enriched to levels capable of producing nuclear weapons.
Yet, on Tuesday, Trump appeared to question whether seizing Iran’s enriched uranium was even worth it at this point in the conflict.
“We’re gonna go get it, but to go get it is a big deal because they say only China and us have the equipment where you can even get it,” Trump said, referring to Iran’s enriched uranium, which he’s frequently referred to as “nuclear dust.”
“The whole mountain is collapsed on top, we have cameras on it… you could make the case ‘why even bother,’ because it’s not really valuable, it’s probably a half a million dollars’ worth. It’s not very valuable stuff. But I think psychologically we want to get it.”
The progressive media organization MeidasTouch called Trump’s remark “damning” given that seizing Iran’s enriched uranium was “his main justification for the war.” The progressive media outlet The Tennessee Holler simply wrote “amazing” in response to Trump’s remark, and MeidasTouch reporter Aaron Parnas argued that Trump had just “given Iran everything it wants.”
Trump’s remarks are consistent, however, with a stunning admission he made to Fox News’ Sean Hannity in May when he said that seizing Iran’s enriched uranium was “more for public relations than it is for anything else.”
Trump is backing away from getting Iran's enriched material: "You could make the case, why even bother? It's not very valuable stuff." pic.twitter.com/CgNgnZCaMQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2026