By Parisa Hafezi, John Irish and Francois Murphy
DUBAI, April 16 (Reuters) – U.S. and Iranian negotiators have scaled back ambitions for a comprehensive peace deal and are seeking a temporary memorandum to prevent a return to conflict, two Iranian sources told Reuters.
The shift comes after inconclusive talks in Islamabad last weekend, where deep disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program — including the fate of its rich uranium stockpile and how long Tehran will halt nuclear activities — threaten progress even as U.S. officials and Pakistani mediators talk of the possibility.
A senior Iranian official said the two sides had begun to bridge some gaps, including how to manage the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for 20% of the world’s oil and gas needs that has been closed to most ships for weeks.
Iran, which has faced years of crippling U.S. sanctions, wants the memorandum to include Washington pooling some Iranian funds to allow more ships through the strait, said the senior official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
A source briefed on Wednesday said Iran could allow ships to sail freely through the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz under a proposal it has proposed in talks with the US, providing a lasting deal.
But halfway through the two-week ceasefire, deep divisions remain. The senior official said it included an agreement on the fate of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which the US wants removed, and the duration of any freeze on Iranian nuclear activities, particularly uranium enrichment.
Iran has long demanded Washington recognize its right to enrich uranium, which Tehran says it seeks only for peaceful purposes but which Western powers and Israel aim to build nuclear weapons.
A Western diplomat said the nuclear issue “remains a major stumbling block”.
If a memorandum to stop the conflict is reached, the two sides are expected to have 60 days to reach a final deal, which would require the involvement of experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian sources said.
A previous international agreement to curtail Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief was signed in 2015 but took nearly two years to negotiate. President Donald Trump rescinded that deal in 2018.
Iranian sources said the United States is demanding a 20-year freeze on Iran’s nuclear enrichment, while Iran wants to limit it to three to five years. Tehran also wants a timetable for lifting UN, US and EU sanctions, they said.
Iran has also in the past rejected US demands to export its entire uranium stockpile that has been enriched to 60%, a level well above the level required for civilian use.
However, Iranian sources said there were signs a deal could be reached. One of the sources said that, while Iran is not ready to ship all of its highly enriched uranium (HEU) abroad, some of it could be sent to third countries.
He said some of the HEU is needed for medical purposes and for a research reactor in Tehran that runs on relatively small amounts of uranium at about 20% enrichment.
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of enriched uranium at 60% of the level in June 2025 when Israel and the United States launched their first strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. It’s not clear exactly how much is left.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in March that what remained of that stockpile was “mainly” stored in the tunnel complex in Isfahan, and that his agency believed there was little more than 200 kilograms. It also believes some are at the sprawling nuclear complex at Natanz, where Iran had two enrichment plants.
A second Western diplomat said: “The 440 kg HEU remains a cause for concern because it would allow Iran to build enough nuclear bombs, as the final enrichment phase is relatively fast.”
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, John Irish in Paris and Francois Murphy in Vienna, Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Peter Graf, Editing by William McLean)
