Trump seeks $672M to stop Iranian nukes as negotiators weigh fate of uranium stockpile
· Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is seeking $672 million for the removal of Iranian nuclear materials, inspections and verification efforts, and other counterproliferation activities as part of its broader $80 billion supplemental funding request, Fox News Digital has learned.
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The funding would support the removal and elimination of Iranian nuclear materials, including uranium hexafluoride (UF6), uranium in various forms and research reactor fuel, including highly enriched uranium, according to details shared by a White House official.
The request also would fund U.S. verification activities inside Iran, support inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, strengthen nuclear-smuggling detection efforts and expand Nuclear Emergency Support Team operations across the Middle East.
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The funding would go to the Department of Energy to support "activities that would terminate Iran's ability to develop or acquire a nuclear weapon, including the disposition of proliferation of sensitive material, technology, equipment, and infrastructure," a White House official told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
The funding request comes as U.S. and Iranian negotiators work to translate the recent memorandum of understanding into a more detailed agreement governing Iran's nuclear program and stockpile of enriched uranium.
Secretary Pete Hegseth is briefing members of the House Republican Study Committee on the $80 billion request to cover the costs of the offensive campaign against Iran known as Operation Epic Fury and rebuild munitions stockpiles. The text of the funding request is expected to be released to Congress in the coming days.
The funding request comes as U.S. and Iranian negotiators are attempting to translate the recent memorandum of understanding into a detailed agreement governing Iran's enriched uranium stockpile and future nuclear activities.
The memorandum of understanding, signed by the United States and Iran June 17, kicked off technical talks led by Vice President JD Vance in Switzerland and established the "minimum" acceptable terms for Iran's roughly 900-pound stockpile of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade as "downblending," or reducing the concentration of uranium through dilution.
"The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph seven with the minimum methodology to be down blended on site under the supervision of the IAEA," the memorandum states.
The agreement leaves unanswered key questions about the ultimate fate of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile.
Neither side has publicly said whether they have reached an agreement on what will happen to the material, including whether it will remain in Iran, be downblended, transferred to another country, or be destroyed altogether.
In what Vance hailed as a "major milestone," he said Iran had agreed to allow U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country for the first time since U.S. and Israeli military strikes targeted Iranian nuclear infrastructure last year.
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President Donald Trump has insisted Iran agreed to what he described as "nuclear honesty."
"Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!)," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!"
The $672 million request is part of the administration's broader $80 billion supplemental funding package related to the Iran conflict and its aftermath. The larger request is expected to cover military operations, replenishment of munitions stockpiles and other national security priorities stemming from the conflict.
The challenge of disposing of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile could be substantial. In 1994, the United States carried out a covert operation known as Project Sapphire to remove roughly 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The mission required weeks of repackaging nuclear material, extensive security precautions and military airlift operations before the uranium could be transported to the U.S.