On May 28, 2026, United States and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire in the three-month war by sixty days and to open a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. According to a US official familiar with the discussions, the first item on that agenda is the disposition of Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency places that inventory at 440.9 kilograms enriched to 60 percent, which it describes as a short technical step from the 90 percent associated with weapons.

Reporting on the draft memorandum indicates that the parties will discuss how to dispose of the material, a phrase that analysts have read as including the option of down-blending the uranium to a lower enrichment level and retaining it inside Iran. As of this writing, President Trump has not endorsed the framework, and Vice President Vance has identified the stockpile and the future of enrichment as the issues still in flux.

The negotiation reduces to a single technical question. What should be done with 440.9 kilograms of 60 percent uranium so that Iran retains what it describes as a peaceful program while the international community removes the weapons risk that this particular material represents.

Two stated positions have framed the dispute for the past year. Washington has insisted on zero enrichment and the removal of the existing stockpile. Tehran has maintained that it holds a right to enrich under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has rejected limits on that right. Between these positions sits a third option that is technically established, historically tested, and consistent with both sides’ declared goals: dilution of the stockpile to reactor grade under international verification.

What 60 percent enrichment means

Natural uranium contains about 0.7 percent of the fissile isotope uranium-235. Enrichment is the industrial process of raising that fraction. Fuel for commercial power reactors typically requires between 3 and 5 percent, and the 2015 nuclear agreement capped Iran at 3.67 percent. Material enriched to 20 percent or above is classified as highly enriched uranium. The concern attached to the 60 percent stockpile is that most of the separative work required to reach........

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