- US President Donald Trump considered but rejected a risky mission to retrieve enriched uranium from Iran
- The operation would have taken two weeks and required extensive military equipment
- Trump said the uranium is "entombed" and poses no immediate threat requiring action
US President Donald Trump has revealed that he considered, but ultimately rejected, a proposal to send American troops into Iran to retrieve enriched uranium.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said the operation was deemed too risky and would have required a major military effort. According to him, the mission would have taken at least two weeks to complete and involved transporting large amounts of equipment into the country.
Trump referred to the nuclear material as "nuclear dust" and said military planners had examined options for recovering it.
Despite shelving the plan, Trump suggested the United States still has the capability to carry out such an operation if it chooses to do so.
"We could get it right now," Trump said. "I don't think they could stop us if we wanted, but there's no reason to. It's entombed."
The president indicated that the material is effectively trapped and no longer poses a reason for immediate action, which contributed to his decision not to approve the mission.
Trump Does Not Need Iran Deal To Get Uranium
On Thursday, Trump said that Washington did not need a deal with Iran to get enriched uranium from the country.
"We could get it right now. I don't think they could stop us if we wanted, but there's no reason to. It's entombed," he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump also said that he did not want to meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
But he added that if Washington and Tehran reached a deal, it was possible that the two would meet and added, "If it happened ... I'd be respectful."
Khamenei, a 54-year-old Islamic cleric, was named the supreme leader in Iran after his father was killed in the US-Israeli strike.
The US leader noted that despite American and Israeli forces targeting several of his family members, he expects Khamenei to be "professional".
"We killed his father, his wife and his son, so I'm probably not his favourite person... [But] in some circles, he has a very good reputation, actually," Trump said.
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