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Secretary Wright on Face the Nation: Military Objectives in Iran Achieved, Nuclear Program Still to Be Ended

May 10, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:09:35

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

On Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright whether a response had been received from Iran to President Trump’s expectation of one. Wright said not that he was aware of, but that he suspected one would come very soon because things are tough for Iran’s leaders and their motivation to make a deal is growing; the endpoint, he said, is known — free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the Iranian nuclear program — even if the route there is not, as he stated it.

Pressed on the difference between Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statement that the war is not over and President Trump’s statement to Congress that hostilities had been terminated, Wright said the military objectives the United States set out to achieve — guided at four to six weeks and achieved in about five — have been achieved, while ending the Iranian nuclear program is a different matter that still needs to be achieved, most likely by negotiation but not necessarily, as he stated it. He said a major goal was degrading Iran’s ability to produce missiles and drones and the industrial complex supporting its military, which he said has been wiped out, along with its navy, air force and air defenses — the, in his word, porcupine that protected the nuclear program, according to his remarks.

Asked who would go in and get the enriched uranium, Wright said that is yet to be determined and could be any of several parties, but would definitely involve people from the Department of Energy, where he said the United States’ nuclear expertise resides and whose personnel have been monitoring events and involved in dialogues about how the material would be handled, as he stated it. He said Iran has nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent — close to weapons grade and far above any commercial use — and that the goal is to remove the nuclear material from Iran and end its enrichment activities, whether by the International Atomic Energy Agency or otherwise, according to his remarks.

Why it matters

Wright’s appearance separates, on the record, what the administration says the five-week military campaign achieved from what it says remains unfinished — ending Iran’s nuclear program — and identifies the Energy Department’s own experts as the likely instrument for removing the enriched uranium.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation - May 10, 2026”, 2026-05-10 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-05-10). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.