Billions in exchange for uranium. US and Iran discussing secret deal - Axios
Photo: Donald Trump and JD Vance (Getty Images)
The United States and Iran are holding negotiations on a plan to end the war, one of the points of which is the unfreezing of $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for Tehran’s renunciation of enriched uranium, Axios reports.
Sources from the outlet say that one of the main priorities of the administration of US President Donald Trump is to ensure that Iran does not have access to its stockpiles of enriched uranium.
This refers to about 2,000 kg of enriched uranium stored in Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, including up to 450 kg enriched to 60 percent purity.
Negotiations on uranium and funds
The countries are negotiating what will happen to the accumulated stockpiles and what portion of Iranian assets will be unfrozen. The sides are also discussing the conditions under which Iran would be allowed to use this money.
According to two sources, at an earlier stage of the talks, the United States was ready to allocate $6 billion to Iran for the purchase of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods. Iran reportedly demanded $27 billion.
As of the latest reports, the US and Iran are discussing an amount of $20 billion. One US official said this is a US proposal. Another US official described the concept of exchanging uranium for money as "one of many discussions."
Under a compromise proposal currently being discussed, part of the highly enriched uranium would be transferred to a third country, while another part would be diluted inside Iran under international monitoring.
On April 12, Trump said that negotiations with Iran in Pakistan "went well." According to him, the sides managed to agree on many issues, but the question of nuclear weapons has not yet been resolved.
In addition, the US president stressed that he does not care whether there is a deal or not, saying the United States "wins either way."
Yesterday, April 16, Trump commented on the talks with Iran and said that "something very positive will happen soon." He also noted that Tehran had agreed not to have nuclear weapons.
