Iran-US Peace Framework Terms Emerge: HEU Removal to US, $20B Frozen Assets, Proxy Groups Abandoned, Nuclear Sites Above Ground

A sweeping peace framework between the United States and Iran began taking shape on April 17, 2026, with President Trump telling CBS News that Iran has "agreed to everything" and confirming the outlines of what would be the most significant US-Iran diplomatic agreement since the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — and in several respects more far-reaching.

In a phone interview with CBS News, Trump stated that Iran has agreed to work with the United States to remove its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium (HEU), which would then be transported to the United States. Trump insisted no US troops would be deployed into Iran for the operation: "No. No troops. We'll go down and get it with them, and then we'll take it. We'll be getting it together because by that time, we'll have an agreement and there's no need for fighting when there's an agreement." Trump described the joint removal process: "Our people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go get it. And then we'll take it to the United States."

According to Axios, which first reported the terms of the emerging three-page peace plan, one of the central elements is a US release of approximately $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in exchange for Iran surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile. Under the framework, Iran would be permitted to maintain nuclear research reactors for the production of medical isotopes, but would pledge that all nuclear facilities would be above-ground, while existing underground facilities — including those destroyed in Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025 — would remain permanently decommissioned.

Trump separately told CBS News that Iran has agreed to stop backing proxy militant groups across the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis — a demand that goes substantially beyond what any previous administration has achieved through diplomacy with Tehran and that, if implemented, would fundamentally reshape the regional security architecture Iran has built over four decades.

Trump told Axios in a brief phone interview with reporter Barak Ravid that American and Iranian negotiators would likely meet again in Islamabad over the coming weekend, and expressed confidence that a final deal could be reached: "The Iranians want to meet. They want to make a deal. I think a meeting will probably take place over the weekend. I think we will get a deal in the next day or two."

The framework remains unfinished and unsigned. Iran's Foreign Ministry separately declared that its enriched uranium is "as sacred to us as the soil of Iran and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances" — a statement that directly contradicts Trump's characterization of Iranian agreement on HEU removal and signals that significant gaps remain despite the optimistic public framing from Washington. The two-week ceasefire expires April 22, giving negotiators approximately five days to convert the emerging framework into a binding agreement.