US Vice President JD Vance said Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands and end the seven-month war, adding that the United States remained unsure how Tehran makes decisions in negotiations.
He told Reuters in an interview on Monday, after a campaign trip in Alaska, reports Reuters.
Vance said any agreement would require Iran to reduce its enrichment capacity rather than offer assurances of future nuclear drawdowns.
Experts say the demand may signal a softening of Washington’s earlier insistence that Tehran abandon enrichment altogether.
“If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60 percent enriched fuel?” Vance said.
“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, a longtime sceptic of US involvement in foreign wars, brokered a provisional peace agreement in June that quickly fell apart. He declined to say whether he was leading the talks.
“We’re certainly involved,” he said.
The war has jolted global energy markets and become a political liability for President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Trump has rejected Tehran’s latest offer and warned that military operations could intensify after the midterms.
Vance said Washington remained open to a deal but would require concrete Iranian nuclear concessions.
“We’re not going to trade words for actions,” he said.
Iran’s latest proposal, offered in late September, sought to build on a 17 June memorandum of understanding that briefly eased the conflict.
It outlined an end to fighting on all fronts, including Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, and the lifting of Washington’s naval blockade and oil sanctions, along with the release of frozen Iranian assets.
The Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy shipping route, would reopen after seven days, followed by talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Vance said Washington was talking to President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, but it was unclear how much authority they wield 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,” he said.
Trump said on Tuesday his “biggest problem” is that no one knows who is running Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday that US officials were well aware who their Iranian counterparts are and how Iran’s decision-making system works.
“The problem is actually the opposite: it lies in the contradictory positions and mixed messaging from US officials,” he said.
Pezeshkian said on Monday that negotiations with Washington were “futile”.
“They have attacked us three times following talks so far; this demonstrates that they do not seek dialogue,” he said.
Araghchi, however, told foreign ambassadors in Tehran on 4 October that only negotiations based on justice and fairness could end the conflict.
Lancaster University professor Simon Mabon told Al Jazeera that Tehran’s negotiators were more concerned with sanctions, frozen assets, the US naval blockade and fighting across the region.
“The US is trying to soften its stance on the nuclear question with the Iranians, but for the Iranians, this isn’t the real sticking point,” he said.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains a source of uncertainty.
On Tuesday, 12 crew members on a Panama-flagged tanker were injured by an unknown projectile while crossing the strait, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said. Gulf oil flows, excluding Iran, reached more than 81 percent of pre-war levels in September, maritime intelligence firm Kpler said.
The war, with its $3 billion monthly price tag, has become a key issue on the campaign trail.
In Alaska, Vance rallied for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, who faces a tight re-election battle with Democratic challenger Mary Peltola in a state Trump carried by 13 percentage points in 2024.
