Ceasefire optimism fades quickly as Washington and Tehran issue contradictory signals over uranium enrichment limits..
US President Donald Trump and the Iranian government have issued sharply conflicting messages over one of the most sensitive issues tied to the recent ceasefire framework: whether Iran will be allowed to continue enriching uranium.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran’s existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be removed and insisted that no further enrichment would be permitted under the emerging arrangement. He also claimed the United States would coordinate with Iran to remove what he described as deeply buried nuclear remnants left after American strikes, while stressing that the targeted sites have remained under close satellite monitoring since the attacks.
Iran’s position, however, appears very different in the Farsi version of the 10-point proposal it submitted as a basis for negotiations. According to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, the Persian-language text includes explicit recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium, even though that wording does not appear in the English version circulated publicly.
Albright said this discrepancy is significant because it suggests Tehran may be presenting one message internationally while preserving a harder internal stance approved by its leadership. He noted that the first four US demands remain clear: dismantling major nuclear facilities, ending uranium enrichment inside Iran, transferring enriched uranium stockpiles out of the country, and accepting intrusive international inspections.
He warned that negotiations are likely to be extremely difficult, especially because Iran’s additional conditions remain unacceptable to Washington. In his view, the current ceasefire could prove to be only a temporary pause rather than a lasting breakthrough.
Trump announced on Tuesday night that he had accepted a two-week ceasefire after an intervention by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The decision came shortly before his stated deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and move toward a broader agreement.
In that announcement, Trump said the United States had already achieved its military goals and described Iran’s 10-point proposal as a workable starting point for final talks. He added that many of the main disputes had already been narrowed, but said the two-week pause was necessary to complete and formalize the agreement.
