Updated Nov. 12, 2026: Shortened. Restored Trump's full Nov. 8 remark and the Iranian speaker's full statement, and removed an anonymous quote.
Iran will not send any of its enriched uranium abroad, its top security official said again. "We will not take a single atom of enriched nuclear material out of Iran," Mohsen Rezaei told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV on Nov. 11. He is secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. The United States wants Iran's most enriched stock destroyed or removed. The U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran on Feb. 28. President Donald Trump says stopping a bomb was a main reason. Iran says it does not seek nuclear weapons.
The IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, says Iran had 440.9 kilograms enriched up to 60% before the June 2025 strikes. Bombs use about 90%. The IAEA has not been able to check the stockpile since.
Russia's offer
Russia has offered to take the uranium and dilute it. Rezaei said: "We told our Russian friends that the enriched material will stay in Iran and we will use it ourselves." Russian spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the same day that the offer "remains on the table" and the decision "rests solely with Tehran." In May, asked about Russian custody, Trump said, "No, I would not be comfortable with that."
What it is for
Rezaei said Iran needs the material "to design ships and submarines that run on nuclear power." Vice President JD Vance asked in October, "If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel?" U.S. and British warships run on highly enriched fuel, a 2018 study found. Treaty rules let navy fuel leave inspections only with the IAEA board's approval, a Carnegie analyst wrote. The rule's authors did not want it to become "a loophole."
Rezaei also said: "We met all our obligations, and yet the war broke out." A June 17 U.S.-Iran memorandum set dilution inside Iran, under IAEA watch, as the minimum. It collapsed two weeks later, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Threats over the uranium
U.S. Central Command has offered a reward for news of Iran moving its uranium. "If they are, we want to know about it and we'll take them out," Trump said on Nov. 8. On Nov. 11, Rezaei said: "If the Americans make a mistake and attack us," Iran would strike "their distant bases too." Fars, an Iranian news agency, added in brackets that he meant an attack on Pickaxe Mountain, a tunnel site near Iran's Natanz enrichment plant.
An Israeli source told CNN in July that Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved some uranium there. Trump said the U.S. never hit it "because there was no activity there," but "could do that in five minutes." Later Rezaei said that if the U.S. starts another war, bases used "from West Asia to Europe" would be targets.
Talks, and a split in Washington
Rezaei said Iran is not negotiating with the Americans now. "They're talking to us," Trump said on Nov. 9. Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said "the ball of negotiations is in America's court." He said Iran will not continue a state of "neither war nor peace," IRNA reported. Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route, stays shut until Iran's seven conditions are met.
After Democrats won both houses of Congress on Nov. 3, Vance wrote, "The reason we lost is the war." Trump said, "He was right," but added: "If you had it to do again, would you do it again? The answer is 'yes.'" Former Vice President Mike Pence said voters were frustrated "because we stopped short and didn't finish it."
On Nov. 12, Trump wrote, "We don't need a deal with Iran." He pulled Vance, a lead negotiator, from the talks, the Daily Caller reported. Trump asked him to focus on "corruption and crime" in states run by Democrats. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Nov. 10 that economic pressure makes new strikes unneeded: "That's not stalemate."
Reporting through Thursday, November 12, 2026. Sources: Al Mayadeen, Rezaei interview posts, Nov. 11, 2026 (translated from Arabic by Profoundd); IRNA, Rezaei statement and news roundup, Nov. 11-12, 2026, and Fars, Nov. 11, 2026 (translated from Persian); RFE/RL, Nov. 11, 2026; Just the News, Oct. 20, 2026; MercoPress, May 27, 2026; TASS, Nov. 11, 2026; VCDNP, 2018; Carnegie Endowment, Jan. 4, 2017; Reuters, Oct. 7, 2026 and Nov. 10, 2026; Fox News, June 24, 2026, Nov. 8, 2026 and Nov. 12, 2026; AP, Oct. 28, 2026; CNN via KTVZ, July 21, 2026; Daily Caller, Nov. 11, 2026 and Nov. 12, 2026; CNBC, Nov. 12, 2026; Wall Street Journal, Oct. 28, 2026.
