Missing from US-Iran talks: plutonium for more than 200 nuclear bombs

By Henry Sokolski – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Two days after Vice President JD Vance tried to get Tehran to give up its nuclear program in Pakistan earlier this month, Iran offered to suspend its uranium enrichment activities for five years. Vance demanded 20. The Iranians said no. Vance left.

Now, President Donald Trump says nothing less than a permanent ban will do. That certainly would be desirable for the United States. But even if the President got this injunction, it would leave a major nuclear weapons loophole: Iran still could make a significant number of bombs from the plutonium that sits at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.