Iran could be allowed to resume uranium enrichment in a decade in a new deal that is being weighed up by United States President Donald Trump in a bid to reach a compromise in the Middle East crisis
Donald Trump is reported to be weighing up an option allowing Iran to resume uranium enrichment in a decade.
The US president has offered shifting reasons for the war in Iran but has consistently said a primary objective is ensuring the country will “never have a nuclear weapon”.
Iran has 440.9kg of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency.
The current stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its programme, has said IAEA Director General Rafael Gross.
And now a new proposal being considered by Trump, would allegedly see Iran suspend uranium enrichment for the coming years before permitting the regime to produce some low-enriched uranium for the next decade, reported the New York Times.
Trump is alleged to have pushed for a 20-year suspension because he feared anything less would make his deal look too similar to the 2015 nuclear agreement he ultimately scrapped. The nuclear deal signed by Barack Obama prevented Iran from enriching uranium above civilian levels for 15 years.
Iran long has insisted its programme is peaceful, but the IAEA and Western nations say Tehran had an organised nuclear weapons programme up until 2003.
IAEA inspectors have not been able to verify the near weapons-grade uranium since June 2025, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defences, military leadership and nuclear programme. The lack of inspections has made it difficult to know exactly where it is located.
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