Trump Says Iran Will Give Up Uranium as Nuclear Talks Stall

Donald Trump said Iran would give up its store of enriched uranium, framing the material as “nuclear dust,” but Tehran has not publicly confirmed any surrender of the stockpile. The claim matters because the uranium at issue is the core of any nonproliferation bargain: without a verified accounting of what Iran has, where it is kept, and how it is removed or monitored, the announcement remains political theater rather than a binding restraint.

The scale is substantial. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimated that as of May 17, 2025, Iran held 9,247.6 kilograms of enriched uranium overall, including 408.6 kilograms enriched to 60 percent purity. A later IAEA estimate put Iran’s 60 percent stockpile at 440.9 kilograms as of June 13, 2025, before U.S. and Israeli strikes later that month. The agency also said that, based on information provided by Iran, the country’s total enriched-uranium stockpile had reached 9,874.9 kilograms by June 13, including 9,040.5 kilograms in the form of uranium hexafluoride.

Those numbers are far above the limits in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which capped enrichment at 3.67 percent and restricted the stockpile to 300 kilograms. Trump withdrew the United States from that deal in 2018, reopening a standoff that has only intensified as Iran expanded enrichment. Tehran has consistently said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, while Western governments and Israel have argued that the same technology could be used to pursue a weapon.

The talks have now shifted toward an interim or temporary deal because major disputes remain unresolved. One of the biggest is whether Iran’s enriched uranium would be removed from the country. Another is how long Iran would halt nuclear work, including enrichment. U.S. negotiators have wanted the uranium taken out of Iran, while Iranian officials have resisted demands to ship out the entire 60 percent stockpile and have sought recognition of a right to enrich uranium. The United States side has also floated a very long freeze on enrichment, while Iran has pushed for a much shorter period.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, warned that any agreement without detailed verification measures would amount to an illusion. That warning goes to the heart of the issue: if inspectors cannot verify the terms, timing and enforcement, then the central question of Iran’s nuclear program remains unanswered, no matter what is declared in Washington.