In the negotiations that preceded the U.S. war with Iran, Iran offered to dismantle its enriched-uranium stockpile and suspend uranium enrichment for three to five years, according to reporting cited by Joe Cirincione in a May 27, 2026 New Republic analysis and corroborated by Al Jazeera (May 11) and House of Commons Library briefings. The terms were more restrictive in some respects than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that Trump had withdrawn from in 2018.
The February 17, 2026 round broke down over Trump's demand that Iran end all enrichment, not merely suspend it; Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declined those conditions. Iran then proposed a five-year enrichment moratorium; Washington rejected it. The 21-hour Islamabad round collapsed.
On February 28, 2026, Trump launched Operation Epic Fury — the largest U.S. military action in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. By May 2026, with 13 U.S. service members dead, roughly $25-50 billion spent, gas above $4 nationally, and Iran's stockpile still underground at Isfahan/Natanz/Fordow, the U.S. was back at the table.
Cirincione's argument, in The New Republic: the framework the administration is now reportedly working toward — unfreezing Iranian assets and lifting sanctions in exchange for Iran eliminating its enriched uranium stockpile — is the JCPOA framework. “It's not 'unconditional surrender' by a long shot,” he writes. The terms Trump rejected in February were available without the war.