However,\u00a0there is a limit to what can be achieved in that\u00a0period,\u00a0said\u00a0Manuel\u00a0Herrera<\/a>, project manager of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Monitor at the security\u00a0think\u00a0tank BASIC.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump is pictured at the G7 summit on June 15, 2026 in \u00c9vian-les-Bains, France. Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n \u201cSixty days\u00a0is not enough. The\u00a0JCPOA\u00a0took years\u00a0of negotiations,\u201d Herre\u00a0told\u00a0Newsweek on\u00a0Tuesday, referring to the\u00a0Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed in 2015 by the Barack Obama administration that\u00a0limited Iran\u2019s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.\u00a0\u00a0Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot reduce three years of diplomatic\u00a0and technical expertise to only\u00a060 days,\u201d\u00a0Herrera\u00a0said. \u201cAs a\u00a0time frame,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other hand, the nongovernmental Arms Control Association (ACA), which has delved into the practical aspects of what neutralizing Iran\u2019s highly enriched uranium would entail, said the \u201cTrump administration cannot afford to squander\u2014for the third time\u2014this diplomatic opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The framework deal touted by Trump\u2014of which details have not been made public \u2014has been spun in different ways by American and Iranian sources.<\/p>\n \u2018All We Have Is Just Speculation\u2019<\/p>\n At the heart of the issue is Iran\u2019s existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium.<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Monday that Tehran was agreeing to\u00a0eliminate\u00a0its highly enriched uranium stockpile<\/p>\n Before Israeli and U.S. strikes in June 2025, the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), estimated that Iran possessed roughly 970 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent.<\/p>\n That level is only a short technical step from the 90 percent enrichment typically associated with nuclear weapons. (Iran has said that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, and that its program is entirely peaceful.)<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance is pictured on the show \u201cHannity\u201d with host Sean Hannity at Fox News Channel Studios on June 15, 2026 in New York City. Photo by Roy Rochlin\/Getty Images. <\/p>\n Since June 2025, Iran\u00a0hasn\u2019t given IAEA inspectors access\u00a0to nuclear sites, even though Tehran is legally obliged to cooperate with the watchdog under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.<\/p>\n Herrera from BASIC said that\u00a0eliminating\u00a0Iran\u2019s\u00a0ability to get a nuclear weapon cannot be done without the\u00a0supervision of the nuclear watchdog and much depends on what Tehran tells it and allows it to do.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Iranian authorities will have to provide access to inspectors to check exactly what are the real amounts that Iran has right now in its stockpiles,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause so far, since 2022, everything\u2026 all we have is just speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the stockpile is\u00a0likely intact, but inaccessible in underground storage sites following the Israeli and U.S. strikes in June, said the ACA.<\/p>\n Excavating the stockpile\u2014what Trump has called \u201cnuclear dust\u201d\u2014under IAEA supervision and diluting it\u00a0inside\u00a0Iran\u00a0would be\u00a0an effective way of \u201cneutralizing the\u00a0risk posed by that material,\u201d according to the ACA.<\/p>\n Herrera said that given\u00a0that Article 4 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) does not forbid countries to have enrichment and reprocessing capacities,\u00a0legally it would be difficult to justify Iran give that up on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n So reducing\u00a0Iran\u2019s enriched uranium to less than the 5 percent\u00a0level suitable for power reactors under monitoring,\u00a0would remove the near-term proliferation risk, the ACA said.\u00a0Another option would be to ship the material out of Iran to an international fuel bank or storage facility under IAEA supervision.<\/p>\n A U.S. official\u00a0suggested on June 12\u00a0that the final deal would include a long-term suspension of Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment program, said the ACA, pointing out that, if that were indeed the case,\u00a0Trump would have shifted from demanding that Iran forgo enrichment permanently, likely to increase the\u00a0chances\u00a0of\u00a0a\u00a0deal.<\/p>\n Safe embed will be rendered here<\/p>\n Thousands of missiles and drones have been launched in the Iran war<\/p>\n Service URL: https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/RUAxC\/7\/ <\/p>\n A Deal With \u2018Clear Benefits to Iran Stands the Best Chance\u2019<\/p>\n Each option carries logistical and political hurdles. Physically removing uranium from Iran would require consent that is not likely to be given. Diluting it domestically would hinge on constant monitoring to ensure material is not diverted.<\/p>\n Critically, any path depends on the return of IAEA inspectors.<\/p>\n Iran would also have to\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0a practical need for future enrichment and face more intrusive monitoring,\u00a0while\u00a0being encouraged to explore less risky nuclear fuel cycle options, the ACA said.<\/p>\n \u201cIran has gained irreversible knowledge about the uranium fuel cycle since Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal,\u201d the ACA said, referring to the JCPOA.<\/p>\n The U.S.\u00a0could push Iran for deadlines to respond to requests for access to nuclear sites and information and any new deal tying the atomic program with sanctions relief\u00a0must be backed by the UN Security Council, the ACA added.<\/p>\n \u201cNegotiating an effective, verifiable nuclear agreement that also provides clear benefits to Iran stands the best chance of disincentivizing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons,\u201d said the ACA.<\/p>\n What\u00a0Has the IAEA Said?<\/p>\n In its first report on Iran\u2019s nuclear program since the start of the war,\u00a0the\u00a0IAEA told U.N. member\u00a0states\u00a0on June 4 it\u00a0has not reported any major changes to its assessment.<\/p>\n The report seen by Reuters\u00a0said that the IAEA had repeated calls for Tehran to explain the fate of stockpiles of enriched uranium\u00a0and that\u00a0for Iran it was \u201cindispensable \u200cand urgent \u2060to implement effectively the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] Safeguards Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8a7fa96f70b96f14d438dd5f22c38ede.jpeg\"\/)
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