U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 27, 2026.
Evan Vucci | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday poured cold water on the prospect of Iran transferring its store of highly enriched uranium to Russia or China as part of any deal to end the war with the U.S.
“No, I wouldn’t be comfortable” with that arrangement, Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
The Kremlin, which has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, has previously said it would accept Iran’s enriched uranium to help facilitate a peace deal.
China has also been speculated to be willing to take in that material, news outlets have reported.
Trump declared in a Truth Social post Monday that Iran’s enriched uranium will be destroyed, either in the U.S., in the Islamic republic itself, or “at another acceptable location.”
The comments at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting came as the U.S. and Iran continue to signal they are working toward at least a short-term agreement to end the three-month-old war in the Middle East.
Oil prices, which have increased dramatically due to the war’s impact on global energy supplies, fell after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the meeting that the U.S. wants to give diplomacy “every chance to succeed.”
Trump also said the U.S. is “not talking about any easing of sanctions” on Iran, or giving them any money as part of a deal.
“No sanctions, no money, no nothing,” he said at the meeting. “We have control of money that they claim is theirs. We’ll keep control of that money. When they behave properly, and when they do what’s right, we’ll let them have their money, but right now we’re not doing that.”
“One thing is not contingent on the other,” he added.
He also said he would not accept a short-term deal giving Iran control over the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil-shipping route whose tanker traffic has been choked off amid the war. Iran did not control the waterway before the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran.
“The strait’s going to be open to everybody,” Trump said. “We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it. That’s part of the negotiation that we have.”
