Vance Ties End of Iran War to Cut in 60% Uranium Enrichment

The vice president says Tehran cannot claim it does not want a nuclear weapon while enriching uranium to 60%, but sets no timeline or mechanism for a cutback.

Vice President JD Vance said Iran must make a meaningful reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to end the seven-month war, arguing Tehran cannot claim it does not want a weapon while enriching uranium to 60%.

The demand adds no new mechanism or timeline to a standoff that has held for weeks. Iran has said it will not touch its nuclear program until the Strait of Hormuz reopens and sanctions are eased, and Iranian officials have described inspections and negotiations as a prelude to strikes rather than a path to resolution. President Pezeshkian has said nuclear talks have preceded strikes rather than stopped them, as Washington reinforces forces near the strait.

Tanker traffic through Hormuz is near a standstill. UKMTO has reported seven vessel strikes near the strait since September 28, with daily transits running near two vessels against a pre-conflict average of 125. Iran has said the strait will not reopen under pressure. Bloomberg estimated no crude left Iran by tanker in September, as sanctions and the naval blockade squeeze an economy where inflation is nearing 90% and the rial has fallen 25% in two months.

Vance's comments follow a cabinet meeting he led on Iran days after President Trump rejected a ceasefire offer and after a tanker strike Iran has blamed on UAE-linked vessels. Trump has said Iran still has to be "finished off" and that its drone-making capacity is "soon to be gone," while also saying the US and Iran will soon "finish up," without details. Setting the 60% enrichment level as the bar for ending the war keeps the conflict in the same pattern of hardened positions and stalled mediation that has already pushed crude above $100 a barrel on the Hormuz disruption, without adding fresh detail to that premium.