Trump Says Iran Needs to Move Quickly on Nuclear Proposal

People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Trump Says Iran Needs to Move Quickly on Nuclear Proposal

People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past an anti-US mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

President Donald Trump on Friday said Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program and knows it needs to move quickly to resolve a decades-long dispute, but Tehran denied receiving one yet.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received a US proposal. "There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes..."

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates: "They have a proposal. More importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad—something bad's going to happen," according to an audio recording of the remarks.

Araqchi said: "Iran nonetheless remains determined and straightforward: Respect our rights and terminate your sanctions, and we have a deal."

"We ALWAYS welcome dialogue based on mutual respect and ALWAYS reject any diktat," he said.

Earlier, an Iranian source close to the negotiating team, said Tehran has yet to receive the US proposal, "but Oman has got it and will hand it over to Tehran soon".  

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.  

Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Middle East already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.



Iran Could Again Enrich Uranium 'in Matter of Months', Says IAEA Chief

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, listens to the speech of President of the World Bank Group (WBG), Ajay Banga (not pictured), as they sign a partnership on new nuclear energy for development effort at the WBG headquarters in Paris, France, 26 June 2025. (EPA)
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, listens to the speech of President of the World Bank Group (WBG), Ajay Banga (not pictured), as they sign a partnership on new nuclear energy for development effort at the WBG headquarters in Paris, France, 26 June 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Could Again Enrich Uranium 'in Matter of Months', Says IAEA Chief

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, listens to the speech of President of the World Bank Group (WBG), Ajay Banga (not pictured), as they sign a partnership on new nuclear energy for development effort at the WBG headquarters in Paris, France, 26 June 2025. (EPA)
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, listens to the speech of President of the World Bank Group (WBG), Ajay Banga (not pictured), as they sign a partnership on new nuclear energy for development effort at the WBG headquarters in Paris, France, 26 June 2025. (EPA)

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium "in a matter of months," despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday.

Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

The United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran's atomic program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is "serious," but the details are unknown. US President Donald Trump insisted Iran's nuclear program had been set back "decades."

But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said "some is still standing."

"They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that," Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday.

Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks.

The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent -- above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.

Grossi admitted to CBS: "We don't know where this material could be."

"So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification," he said in the interview.

For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi's request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility.

"We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened," Grossi said.

In a separate interview with Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures" program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved.

"It's a very hard thing to do plus we didn't give much notice," he said, according to excerpts of the interview. "They didn't move anything."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday underscored Washington's support for "the IAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran," commending Grossi and his agency for their "dedication and professionalism."

The full Grossi interview will air on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday.

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