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U.S. President Donald Trump turned down a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to transfer Iran's enriched uranium stockpile to Russia as part of a deal to end the war, Axios reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that the situation surrounding nuclear facilities in the Middle East is "extremely sensitive."
Putin raised several ideas for ending the war between the U.S. and Iran during a phone call with Trump on Monday, one of which was transferring Iran's enriched uranium to Russia.
Trump rejected the proposal, according to sources cited by Axios.
"This is not the first time it has been offered. It hasn't been accepted. The U.S. position is we need to see the uranium secured," a U.S. official told Axios.
Russia raised similar proposals during U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations last May, before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in June, and in the weeks before the current war began.
The proposal centers on Iran's 450 kilograms of 60%-enriched uranium, which is convertible to weapons-grade uranium within weeks and is enough for over 10 nuclear bombs, making it one of the key war objectives for the U.S. and Israel.
Russia is already a nuclear power and previously stored Iran's low-enriched uranium under the 2015 nuclear deal, making it one of the few countries with the technical capacity to accept the material.
In the last round of talks before the war, Iran rejected the transfer idea and proposed instead diluting the uranium inside its own facilities under IAEA supervision.
It is not clear whether Iran would accept the proposal now.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated at a press conference Friday that the U.S. "has a range of options" to take control of Iran's highly enriched uranium.
Hegseth said one option is for Iran to voluntarily surrender the stockpile, which the U.S. "would welcome."
"They weren't willing to do that in negotiations. I would never tell this group or the world what we're willing to do or how far we're willing to go, but we have options, for sure," he said.
The U.S. and Israel have also discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure the nuclear stockpile at a later stage of the war, Axios previously reported.
Trump, however, suggested in a Fox News Radio interview that securing the highly enriched uranium is not currently a top priority. "We are not focused on that, but at some point we might be," he said.
On the deal prospects, a U.S. official said, "The president talks to everyone, Xi, Putin, the Europeans, and he's always willing to make a deal. But it has to be a good deal. The president doesn't make bad deals."
Trump acknowledged for the first time that Russia is aiding Iran in the war, following days of reports about Moscow providing intelligence to target U.S. forces.
"I think he might be helping them a little bit, yeah. And he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right?" Trump said in the Fox News Radio interview.
"So he says that, and China would say the same thing. It's like, hey, they do it and we do it, in all fairness," he added.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, speaking alongside Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev in Moscow, said the situation surrounding nuclear facilities in the Middle East is of serious concern.
"I think the situation is very sensitive. We are seeing a new conflict erupting where the nuclear factor is important," Grossi said.
He described a "thin line" being walked between peace and war, adding, "Right now there is a war, it is ongoing, and we hope it ends as soon as possible. Then we will go back to negotiations, and that is necessary."
Likhachev said regarding Iran that Rosatom has seen no evidence of Iran developing nuclear weapons.
"We have not seen any evidence of Iran developing nuclear weapons, neither officially nor, so to speak, intuitively," he said.
Likhachev also addressed the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, saying, "Under certain conditions, we can speak about electricity supply, including to Ukraine."
He added that the energy produced at the plant could be used to rapidly deploy data processing centers and that the U.S. could be among the new partners in such arrangements.
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