Several American media outlets reported that this 20-year pause was accompanied by an easing of sanctions. In return, Iran would offer to suspend its nuclear activities for five years.
The United States sought a 20-year suspension of the Iranian uranium enrichment program in order to end the war, as reported by American media on Monday after the failed negotiations on Sunday.
President Donald Trump declared war on February 28, claiming that Iran was developing a nuclear bomb – a claim Tehran denies – and promising to never let this country possess a nuclear weapon.
Vice President American JD Vance left the negotiations with Iran empty-handed on Sunday, with the main sticking points being the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian nuclear program. According to American media citing officials close to the discussions held in Islamabad on Saturday, Washington asked Tehran at that time to commit to not enriching uranium for 20 years. This 20-year pause was accompanied by an easing of sanctions, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. In return, Iran would offer to suspend its nuclear activities for five years, according to the New York Times. These proposed actions reported by the press appear to be a softened version of the demands publicly made by Donald Trump, who demanded that Iran definitively abandon its nuclear ambitions.
In 2018, during his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 between Iran and major powers, a text that provided for a easing of sanctions in exchange for strict limitations on uranium enrichment and enhanced monitoring of the country’s facilities.
“It’s one thing for Iranians to say they won’t acquire nuclear weapons, but it’s another for us to put in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure that won’t happen,” Vance said Monday at the end of unsuccessful peace negotiations in Pakistan, adding that the United States has presented “clear red lines”. Iran has already said it rule out any restrictions on its right to enrich uranium as part of what it claims to be a civilian nuclear program.
The “central question” is the removal of all highly enriched uranium Iran has already produced, as well as “ensuring that there is no further enrichment in the years to come, or even decades to come,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, a close ally of Donald Trump. Russia announced Monday that it is ready to host Iranian enriched uranium on its soil as part of a potential peace agreement between Washington and Tehran.
