Vance says Iran must cut enrichment to end war

US Vice President JD Vance said in an exclusive interview with Reuters that Iran ​must make a “meaningful” reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands and end the countries’ seven-month war, even as Washington was unsure how ‌Tehran makes decisions in negotiations.

Speaking on Monday after a campaign trip in Alaska, Vance said ​any agreement would require Iran to reduce its nuclear enrichment capacity, rather than offer assurances of future nuclear drawdowns.
"If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why ​do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don't build highly enriched ⁠fuel. That's a very basic threshold issue," Vance said.
"I think if they want to show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their ​enrichment capacity."

Vance said the US remained open to an agreement but would require concrete Iranian nuclear concessions.
"We're not going to trade words for actions," Vance said.

Complicating matters, Vance said Washington is uncertain who makes decisions in Tehran.
Vance said the US was in talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. But ​it was unclear how much authority they wield within Iran's power structure, he said, after joint US-Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"One ​of the things we picked up on is it's not totally clear how their country makes decisions," Vance said. Separately, Trump said on Tuesday his "biggest problem" is no one knows who is running Iran.