WASHINGTON, June 3. /TASS/. The Russian side's proposal to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran to Russia is useful, and such a solution would be good, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Arms Control Association, Thomas Countryman, told TASS.
"It is a useful proposal," the expert, who served as Acting US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in 2016-2017, noted. "It was part of the solution in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Program of Action. I hope Russia continues to make the offer."
"There is a long road of negotiation ahead between the US and Iran before that question is settled. And whether the enriched uranium is transported to Russia or is down blended [with other material] within Iran, they are both good solutions to what is a looming [nuclear] proliferation problem," Countryman, who participated in the annual meeting of the Arms Control Association, emphasized. Countryman served approximately 35 years in the US foreign service. Under the administration of the 46th US President Joe Biden, he was a senior advisor in the State Department's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
US President Donald Trump stated on May 27 that he was not satisfied with the option where Iranian enriched uranium would be transferred to Russia or China.