US Vice President JD Vance said Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction in its uranium enrichment capacity to meet Washington’s demands and help end the seven-month war, potentially leaving room for Tehran to retain some enrichment capability.
The demand comes as Iran’s nuclear infrastructure remains heavily damaged following US and Israeli strikes, while uncertainty persists over its remaining enriched uranium stockpile and the status of its centrifuges.
Before the strikes, Iran was enriching uranium to as much as 60 percent purity, below the roughly 90 percent considered weapons-grade.
The International Atomic Energy Agency estimated that Iran held 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent when the attacks began, enough for 10 nuclear weapons if enriched further under the agency’s yardstick.
The IAEA said it had no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme.
The three enrichment facilities operating at the time were destroyed or badly damaged, with the above-ground Natanz plant destroyed and underground facilities at Natanz and Fordow believed to be out of action.
Iran has not allowed inspectors back into the bombed facilities or disclosed how much enriched uranium survived.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in March that the agency believed slightly more than 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent remained at Isfahan, with additional material at Natanz.
Iran is not currently known to be enriching uranium.
Vance’s language contrasts with earlier US demands that Iran abandon enrichment altogether, although Washington has not specified what reduction would satisfy its conditions.
A reduction could involve enrichment purity, output or the number of operating sites.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called negotiations with Washington “futile”, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said negotiations based on fairness could end the conflict.
Tehran’s recent proposal called for fighting to stop, the US naval blockade and oil sanctions to be lifted, frozen Iranian assets released and the Strait of Hormuz reopened before nuclear negotiations.
Those broader disputes remain unresolved as attacks on shipping continue despite a significant recovery in Gulf oil flows.