On Thursday, President Donald Trump was boarding Air Force One on his way to Nevada, then Arizona, to tout the Working Families Tax Cuts and the gains by average Americans because of them. During his typical impromptu press scrum before boarding, the president dropped some bombshells: the biggest breakthrough: Iran has agreed to give up its enriched uranium.
Trump said:
Very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and they've agreed to that. Iran's agreed to that, and they've agreed to it very powerfully. They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust, which is way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers. So, we have a lot of agreement with Iran, and I think something's going to happen very positively.
WATCH:
AFP VIDEO President Trump says Iran has "agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that's way underground." He was speaking to the press at the White House. pic.twitter.com/tAfQpj9RZe
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 16, 2026
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During last week's peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, Vice President JD Vance indicated that one of Iran's sticking points in reaching an agreement was that they would not give up their aims for a nuclear weapon, and refused to say they would halt uranium enrichment.
Vance said:
But again, we just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms. I think that we were quite flexible. We were quite accommodating. The President told us, "You need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal." We did that, and unfortunately, we weren't able to make any headway.
This is when Vance, Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff walked away from the table.
Even as recently as Wednesday, outlets were reporting that Iran would not give up its right to enrich uranium.
A senior Iranian official told USA TODAY that there is no scenario under a theoretical deal with the United States aimed at ending the war where Tehran would agree to entirely give up enriching uranium for its nuclear program.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to sensitive ongoing attempts to get both sides to return to peace talks in Pakistan. President Donald Trump said April 14 that the U.S.-Iran peace talks may resume “over the next two days” in Islamabad.
One reporter on Thursday appeared to be fixated on a timeline mentioned during the failed peace talks. She asked the president: "Is there a 20-year minimum to stop enriching uranium?"
Trump responded, "We haven't agreed to any, we haven't agreed to any.... What we have is, we have a statement, a very powerful statement, that they will not have — beyond 20 years — that they will not have nuclear weapons. That's beyond, there's no 20-year limit."
WATCH:
.@POTUS on whether a 20-year minimum for Iran to stop enriching uranium is acceptable:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 16, 2026
"We have a statement, a very powerful statement, that they will not have — beyond 20 years — that they will NOT have nuclear weapons. There's no 20-year limit." pic.twitter.com/saqa3DjfYl
Aside from President Trump's impromptu tarmac announcement, there has been no additional information on how this purported Iran agreement will come about. As with all things with Iran and Operation Epic Fury, this is a developing story with many moving parts. RedState will provide updates as further events unfold.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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