What's Needed for Iran Nuclear Elimination Deal in 60 Days

Vice President JD Vance has said Tehran will eliminate its highly enriched uranium in the deal to end the Iran War, but challenges remain over verifiably neutralizing the proliferation risk posed by the material that can make a nuclear weapon.

President Donald Trump had touted a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which would open the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has blocked, this coming Friday. It would also start a 60-day negotiation process that includes discussions over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

U.S. and Iranian sources have given differing interpretations of the agreement-the full text of which is likely to be revealed this week-to end the war that started on February 28 with joint American and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Vance told Fox News on Monday that Tehran was agreeing to eliminate its enriched uranium stockpile, thus meeting Trump and Israel’s war aim of stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

“They’re agreeing right now to eliminate the enriched stockpile. And if they don’t get to a point where they agree to stop enriching, then they don’t get the other benefits of the bargain,” he added.

“The Trump administration cannot afford to squander-for the third time-this diplomatic opportunity,” said the nongovernmental Arms Control Association (ACA), which delved into the practical aspects of what neutralizing Iran’s highly enriched uranium would entail.

But several politicians and media in Israel have reacted negatively to reports of the MOU, criticizing its lack of detail, reported concessions to Tehran, and the move to defer key nuclear issues to future talks.

Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) told Newsweek on Tuesday: "This deal features zero Israeli involvement, leaving the defense establishment completely in the dark."

Kupperwasser said the Israeli leadership had presented red lines, including that Iran give up enriching uranium on its soil.

"It seems that this deal might allow them to continue doing exactly that," he said. "This brings to question the diplomatic and military efforts of the U.S. and their outcomes."

Neutralizing Iran’s Highly Enriched Uranium

Iran's 970-pound stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU) enriched to 60 percent-just shy of weapons-grade-most of which is likely intact, but inaccessible in underground storage sites following Israeli and U.S. strikes.

The nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran has not revealed what happened ‌to the bombed nuclear sites or the nuclear material, including the HEU, that was stored there.

Excavating the HEU under IAEA supervision and diluting it inside Iran would be an effective way to neutralize the material, according to an assessment of reports of the MOU on Monday by the ACA.

It said that U.S. and Israeli strikes in 2025 and 2026 set back Iran's nuclear program but had not eliminated Tehran's capability to build a nuclear bomb.

But reducing Iran’s HEU to less than the 5 percent level suitable for power reactors under IAEA monitoring, removes the near-term proliferation risk. This material could be shipped to the international fuel bank in Kazakhstan, sold, or stored under IAEA supervision, said the ACA assessment.

A U.S. official suggested on June 12 that the final deal would include a long-term suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program, said the ACA pointing out that, if that were indeed the case, Trump would have shifted from demanding Iran forgo enrichment permanently, likely to increase the chances of a deal.

But a verifiable suspension on enrichment and the dilution of the HEU stockpile, could ensure Tehran could not quickly make a bomb, the ACA said.

‘Prospect of a Nuclear Iran Off the Table for a Generation’

It added that the U.S. could beef up the enrichment suspension with freezing centrifuge research and production and eliminating or capping uranium mining and milling activities.

Iran would also have to demonstrate a practical need for future enrichment and face more intrusive IAEA monitoring, while being encouraged to explore other less risky nuclear fuel cycle options, the ACA said.

"Iran has gained irreversible knowledge about the uranium fuel cycle since Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal,” the ACA said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which eased sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

The U.S. could push Iran for deadlines to respond to IAEA requests for access to nuclear sites and information and any new deal tying the atomic program with sanctions relief must be backed by the UN Security Council, the ACA added.

"Negotiating an effective, verifiable nuclear agreement that also provides clear benefits to Iran stands the best chance of disincentivizing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons," said the ACA.

"From the Israel perspective, we are left feeling neglected and ignored by our allies the Americans, with whom we fought shoulder to shoulder," said Kupperwasser from the JISS. "If this is indeed the final arrangement, it is a disaster that relies on the hollow promise of a regime that has historically lied, cheated, and breached its commitments.”

Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, told Newsweek: "If the memorandum of understanding holds, it opens the prospect for a new negotiated agreement to take the prospect of a nuclear Iran off the table for a generation. That such an agreement was likely achievable without the war shows how unnecessary it was.”

What Has the IAEA Said?

In its first report on Iran's nuclear program since the start of the war, the IAEA told U.N. member states on June 4 it has not reported any major changes to its assessment.

The report seen by Reuters said that the IAEA had repeated calls for Tehran to explain the fate of stockpiles of enriched uranium and that for Iran it was "indispensable ‌and urgent ⁠to implement effectively the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Safeguards Agreement."

"Its implementation cannot be suspended by Iran under any circumstances,” the report added. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors on June 8, “it’s very important that we re-engage,” with Iran.

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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 6:18 AM.