A sort of tug of war has been going on between the United States and Iran as the two countries negotiate to end their ongoing conflict in West Asia. And at the centre stage is a term that US President Donald Trump has used multiple times: Nuclear dust.
Trump has claimed that Iran is ready to hand over its “nuclear dust” to the United States. Iran has denied any such agreement. And the world keeps wondering whether the talks will bear fruit or whether the war that began on February 28 will enter its second season when the 14-day ceasefire ends on April 22.
One more question that comes to mind is, what exactly is the “nuclear dust” that has become the bone of contention between Iran and the US? Here is a deep dive:
What is nuclear dust?
“Nuclear dust” has been Donald Trump’s phrase for Iran’s highly enriched uranium that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes is buried deep underneath the ground following US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day war in June last year.
While Trump has said that Iran has agreed to hand it over to the US, Tehran has denied any such agreement, calling the demand “maximalist”.
“There will be no enrichment of Uranium,” Trump said, adding that the United States would work with Iran to “dig up and remove all of the deeply buried nuclear ‘dust.'”
Iran was believed to have more than 400 kilograms of 60 per cent highly enriched uranium and nearly 200 kilograms of 20 per cent fissile material before the US and Israel launched airstrikes on the Islamic Republic in June last year. The biggest concern that the US and Israel say they have is that all that material can be easily converted into 90 per cent weapons-grade uranium, although Iran has repeatedly said it doesn’t intend to make a nuclear weapon.
According to Tehran, its objective in enriching uranium is power generation and energy security, not a nuclear weapon.
Where Iran’s nuclear dust is buried
Much of Iran’s uranium stockpile is believed to be buried under the rubble of a mountain facility that the US bombed in June with bunker buster bombs carried by its stealth B-2 bombers. Trump had claimed at the time that the bombing had “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear programme.
According to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Iran’s nuclear material is mainly stored at two of the three sites that the US attacked– an underground tunnel at the nuclear complex in Isfahan and a cache at Natanz.
Reports have claimed that the Iranians have centrifuges to enrich uranium and the capability to set up a new underground enrichment site.
The US-Iran nuclear deadlock
The existence of Iran’s nuclear programme has been a key point of tension between the Trump administration and Tehran. The United States perceived Iran’s enriched uranium as a security concern because the material could be used in the service of creating a nuclear weapon.
Given that Iran has long said it does not seek a nuclear weapon, any promise that it won’t build one in future as well may not be a significant breakthrough. However, if Tehran has indeed agreed to hand over its existing stocks of enriched uranium, it would constitute a much more substantial concession, though it doesn’t seem to be happening.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh made it clear in an interview with AP that his country will not hand over its enriched uranium to the United States.
“I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to the United States. This is a non-starter, and I can assure you that while we are ready to address any concerns that we do have, we’re not going to accept things that are non-starters,” Khatibzadeh said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has also challenged the legitimacy of the United States’ efforts to restrict his country’s atomic programme, questioning the legal basis for such interference. As reported by Al Jazeera, citing the Iranian Student News Agency, Pezeshkian asserted that Washington possesses no valid justification for attempting to strip the nation of its technological entitlements.
“Trump says Iran cannot make use of its nuclear rights, but doesn’t say for what crime. Who is he to deprive a nation of its rights?” the Iranian President stated.
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