Vance Demands Iran Cut 60% Uranium Enrichment for War Deal as US Softens Stance
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · Oct 7
Vance Demands Iran Cut 60% Uranium Enrichment for War Deal as US Softens Stance
3 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Oct 7
Summary
JD Vance said Iran must make a “meaningful” cut to uranium enrichment to prove it is not seeking a bomb, focusing on Tehran’s 60% enriched stock rather than demanding enrichment end entirely.
That wording suggests a possible shift from Washington’s earlier zero-enrichment line, even as Marco Rubio and Donald Trump kept up pressure with warnings that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and the war will end one way or another.
Tehran signaled both resistance and limited openness: President Masoud Pezeshkian called talks with Washington “futile,” while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations based on “justice and fairness” could still end the conflict.
The main gap may lie beyond the nuclear file, with analysts saying Iran is prioritizing sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, an end to the US naval blockade and wider regional ceasefires.
Shipping remains part of the leverage battle in the war’s eighth month: Gulf oil flows recovered to more than 81% of pre-war levels in September, but attacks continued, including injuries to 12 crew on a tanker in Hormuz.