Trump nuclear talks face defining question: What happens to Iran’s uranium stockpile?
Even as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reportedly move toward a temporary framework agreement, one of the most consequential questions remains unresolved: What happens to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile?Iranian officials repeatedly...
By Fox News · Fox News
Even as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reportedly move toward a temporary framework agreement, one of the most consequential questions remains unresolved: What happens to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile? Iranian officials repeatedly have insisted retaining enriched uranium is a red line in negotiations, even as President Donald Trump has vowed Iran "will not have a nuclear weapon" and suggested the United States could ultimately "take" the material if necessary. Nonproliferation experts say the issue sits at the center of whether any future agreement can credibly prevent Iran from rapidly moving toward weapons-grade enrichment — particularly after U.S. strikes damaged key nuclear facilities but did not necessarily eliminate the nuclear material itself. "I think it would put a poison pill in any agreement because retaining any of these 60% stockpile or really any of the lower enriched material," Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "That would give them the ability to go higher to weapons grade at a time of their choosing." AFTER THE STRIKES, HOW WOULD THE US SECURE IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM? The issue has taken on renewed urgency following 2026's Operation Epic Fury against Iran and 2025 U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. While airstrikes can damage centrifuges, tunnel systems and enrichment infrastructure, experts say physically locating, securing and neutralizing enriched uranium presents a separate challenge altogether. Destroying infrastructure can slow or disrupt a nuclear program, but accounting for nuclear material itself requires sustained access, reliable intelligence and international oversight. "The stockpile is going to be the focus for the administration because that is the material, in particular the 60%," Stricker said. Iran is believed to possess thousands of kilograms of enriched uranium ranging from low-enriched material to uranium e…