The fate of the Iranian nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium inventory remain the key obstacles in negotiations with the US

Washington and Tehran remain deadlocked over Iran's nuclear program and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Iran has insisted that continuing its nuclear program is its sovereign right, while the US maintains that the program must be abandoned for good and the uranium surrendered.

RT looks into the status of Iran's uranium stockpile, as well as the positions of Tehran and Washington on the issue as the temporary ceasefire nears its end.

How much uranium does Iran have?

Iran has a sizable stockpile of fissile materials, including uranium enriched up to 60%. While the material is not yet weapons-grade, it could potentially be enriched to that level in a matter of days, depending on the equipment used. Tehran has long maintained its nuclear program serves purely civilian goals and rejected assertions it had been seeking to build nuclear weapons.

According to the latest comprehensive assessment from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published in May 2025, Tehran possessed more than 400 kg of uranium enriched up to 60%, as well as nearly 300 kg enriched up to 20%. Apart from that, the country was believed to hold some 5.5 tons of uranium enriched up to 5%, as well as some 2.2 tons up to 2%.

Where exactly is the Iranian stockpile?

The whereabouts and status of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile are debated, and no solid independent assessment of them is available. The IAEA said it had lost "continuity of knowledge" about the stash after Tehran turned off on-site cameras used to monitor its nuclear program in June 2022 in retaliation for what it called a "political" resolution adopted by the organization. In its May 2025 assessment, the organization admitted the knowledge gap was no longer bridgeable.

According to US claims, Iran's "nuclear dust," as US President Donald Trump has described it, remains buried at the nuclear facilities bombed by the US in June 2025. At the time, the US attacked sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, striking underground facilities with bunker buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles. While Trump claimed the key uranium-enrichment facilities ended up "completely and totally obliterated," a July 2025 Pentagon assessment suggested the country's nuclear program had only been set back by up to two years. Tehran has been elusive about the extent of damage and the fate of the fissile materials stockpile, stating only that the sites sustained severe damage.

A recent report by Le Monde suggested that Iran could have transferred possibly all of its highly enriched uranium to the Isfahan underground facility shortly before the June 2025 strikes. The assessment is based on a satellite image taken on June 9, 2025, which shows a large flatbed truck packed with 18 blue containers, which experts believed to be consistent with caskets used to transport highly radioactive materials. The containers could hold up to 540kg of uranium, according to experts cited by the newspaper. After the strikes, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth insisted that no intelligence suggested Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium prior to the attacks.

The polar positions of the US and Iran on the uranium

The issue of the uranium has remained a key obstacles to an agreement between the US and Iran. Washington has demanded that Tehran surrender all of its highly enriched uranium, as well as dismantle its infrastructure and abandon the nuclear program for good.

During the recent talks between Iran and the US in Islamabad, which concluded without any breakthrough, US Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly proposed a 20-year ban on Tehran pursuing its nuclear program. However, Trump publicly rejected such prospects, stating the purportedly proposed moratorium period was not long enough.

Tehran has repeatedly refused to abandon its nuclear program, offering to dilute its highly enriched uranium stockpile instead. During the discussions in Islamabad, it also reportedly offered a five-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.

Top Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected the idea of surrendering the stockpile to the US or any other third party, insisting that the country's nuclear achievements and assets were a matter of national pride and non-negotiable. The stance was reiterated by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei during a press conference on Monday. Transferring the country's enriched uranium abroad "has never been raised as an option for us in negotiations," Baqaei stated.

Russian offer

Moscow has on several occasions proposed to host Iran's enriched uranium as a compromise to defuse the Middle East crisis. According to remarks made by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week, Russia extended its offer "quite a time ago," and Tehran had been "okay with it" at the time.

Peskov described the plan as "a very good solution" but said it had been firmly rejected by Washington.

Russian officials have signaled that the offer remains on the table. The head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Aleksey Likhachev, said over the weekend the company was ready to help remove Iran's enriched uranium stockpile.

"Only Russia has positive experience interacting with Iran. In 2015, at Iran's request, we already removed enriched uranium... We are ready to assist with this issue today as well," Likhachev told corporate newspaper Strana Rosatom.

Iran exported some 11 tons of low-enriched uranium to Russia under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as the "Iran nuclear deal," a 2015 multinational plan to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The scheme crumbled early in Trump's first term, after the US president accused Tehran of violating the "spirit" of the deal and unilaterally walked away from it.

(RT.com)