US President Donald Trump has said that recovering enriched uranium from Iran will be a “long” and “difficult” process following US strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities.
Trump made the statement on his Truth Social platform, where he claimed that the operation—referred to as “Operation Midnight Hammer”—had completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites, leaving behind what he described as “nuclear dust.”
“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” he said, adding that “digging it out will be a long and difficult process.”
The US leader has repeatedly used the term “nuclear dust” to refer to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, which Washington accuses Tehran of stockpiling for potential nuclear weapons development.
Trump also maintained that the uranium could eventually be recovered and transferred to the United States, although Iranian officials have rejected any such plan.
His remarks come amid ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran, with uncertainty surrounding ceasefire talks and the future of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.