The 14 provisions of the Iran cease-fire and negotiation memorandum of understanding (MOU) released by the United States on the 17th (local time) include language that Iran will not develop or acquire nuclear weapons and will negotiate with the United States on how to handle its stockpiled enriched uranium. The idea is for the United States to control Iran's enrichment capacity and nuclear material before Iran actually completes a nuclear weapon.
At a news conference for the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Évian, France, on the 17th (local time), President Trump called the deal the "Trump deal," saying, "This is a wall that stops the path to nuclear weapons." He said, "This deal makes it 99% likely that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons," adding, "If they don't act properly, we will bomb until they comply."
The text of the agreement had not been made public as of the 18th, but major outlets and officials said Articles 8 and 9 among the 14 U.S. MOU provisions directly address nuclear-related agreements. According to Bloomberg, Iran in those articles reconfirmed that it "will not develop or acquire nuclear weapons." Its stockpiled highly enriched uranium must be downblended and processed in Iran under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision. The United States and Iran will maintain the current status of the nuclear program until a final agreement and settle enrichment-related issues within up to 60 days.
Nate Swanson, a researcher at the Atlantic Council, said in an analysis released after the final agreement that "if fine-tuning over uranium processing, the halt to enrichment, and the scope of inspections goes off track, there remains a risk of snapping back to the threat of airstrikes at any time," while noting that "the United States chose a preventive nonproliferation strategy that ties down nuclear material and enrichment capacity before Iran completes nuclear armament."
On the same day, at the same venue, the G7 joint statement addressed North Korea's nuclear issue in the opposite way. The leaders of major countries, including President Trump, only went so far as to say they "express deep concern about the nuclear and ballistic missile program" when mentioning the North's nuclear program. They stopped at reaffirming the "complete denuclearization in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions," a line repeated for years. No new negotiation proposal or economic pressure measures were presented.
Experts said the United States and major countries are not staying silent because they view the North's nuclear program more lightly than Iran's. The international community estimates North Korea possesses about 50 assembled nuclear warheads. In its 2026 National Defense Strategy, the United States already assessed North Korea as a threat capable of striking the U.S. homeland, and Iran as a target that must be prevented from potentially building a bomb.
In this document, the United States said "North Korea's nuclear force is growing in size and sophistication," posing "a clear and present risk of nuclear attack" to the U.S. homeland. In the same document, it wrote that Iran "may rebuild conventional forces and attempt to restore its nuclear program," and that it would respond by strengthening Israel and expanding the role of regional partners. Iran has produced a significant amount of 60% enriched uranium, far above the level for reactor fuel (3%–5%), but it has not been confirmed as a country possessing nuclear warheads.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace assessed that the United States and North Korea have effectively entered a phase of nuclear deterrence. Ankit Panda, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, "There was a time when the United States approached this issue from a nonproliferation angle, saying 'North Korea must be stopped from reaching nuclear armament,'" adding, "Now it sees North Korea as already nuclear-armed and has shifted toward deterring and managing a counterpart that has nuclear weapons."
To force North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear armament as the United States did with Iran, already-made nuclear warheads, nuclear material (enriched uranium), and even mobile missiles would have to be found and eliminated. If Washington were to push militarily without North Korea's cooperation as in the Iran case, it would have to accept the risk of nuclear retaliation targeting Korea, Japan, and the U.S. homeland. The foundation added, "Even if the United States and the West keep the same 'complete denuclearization of North Korea' asserted at this meeting as a long-term goal, for now negotiations to freeze nuclear tests and long-range missile tests and reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war are urgent."
North Korea, unlike Iran, is moving to build up its nuclear capabilities instead of negotiating with the United States. On the 13th, North Korea's Foreign Ministry declared that denuclearization is an irreversibly closed issue and rejected Washington's demand for denuclearization. Kim Jong-un, chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, inspected a new nuclear material production plant earlier this month and claimed the capacity to produce weapons-grade nuclear material has more than doubled over the past five years. Victor Cha and Andy Lim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said, "In the first 100 days of Trump's second term, North Korea tested missiles five times and stole $1.5 billion (about 2.3 trillion won) in cryptocurrency," adding, "As North Korea's relationship with Russia has deepened, the Trump administration's economic sanctions on the North have collapsed."