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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran will have to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium or the United States will get it, warning that Washington reserves the option of carrying out another strike if Tehran does not hand over the material voluntarily.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said the United States is monitoring Iran's uranium stockpile and knows what Iran has. He said Iran would either surrender it voluntarily or the United States would remove it by other means if necessary.
"We're watching it. We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we'll get it, and we'll take it. If we have to, we can do it in any, any means necessary," Hegseth said.
Hegseth said any nuclear material Iran "should not have" would be removed under the terms of the ceasefire announced a day earlier.
"Under the terms, any nuclear material they ... should not have, will be removed," he said.
He also said President Donald Trump had been clear from the beginning that there would be no Iranian nuclear weapons.
"The president has been clear from the beginning - there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons. Period, full stop. Other presidents said it. President Trump did it," Hegseth said.
His remarks came after Trump said on Truth Social that the United States would work with Iran to "dig up and remove" stockpiles of uranium targeted during American airstrikes.
Hegseth did not provide details on whether Iran had agreed to Trump's statement that the United States would work with Tehran to recover material buried during joint U.S.-Israeli strikes last summer.
But he said Iran would either hand it over voluntarily or the United States could take further action.
"They'll give it to us voluntarily, we'll get it, we'll take it, we'll take it out, or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity," Hegseth said.
He also said, "We'll take it if we have to."
The Pentagon chief said the United States could act by any means necessary to secure the uranium.
Hegseth referred to Operation Midnight Hammer, which he described as a one-off U.S. attack in June last year.
He said the operation involved stealth bombers flying from the United States.
According to the text, bombs were dropped on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran, where the uranium was deeply buried.
Trump now wants that uranium removed, and Hegseth said the United States was prepared to ensure that happened.
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