Iran Agrees to Ditch High-Grade Uranium Stockpile

US media reported on May 23 that Iran has agreed to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of a key provision in a deal that’s about to be reached between the US and Iran. Two US officials revealed to The New York Times that the deal doesn’t actually resolve how Iran will get rid of its uranium stockpile – instead, those details will be hashed out in the next round of talks about Iran’s nuclear program. The US has been pushing for Iran to ditch its highly enriched uranium for a long time, so even though this is just a “commitment in principle” for now, it’s a huge deal for the agreement. Initially, Iran refused to include any agreements about its uranium stockpile in the “initial phase” of talks, and wanted to push it off until the “second phase”. But US negotiators made it clear to Iran through intermediaries that if they couldn’t reach some kind of agreement on this issue in the initial phase, the US would pull out of the talks and resume military action.