Iran’s Supreme Leader Rejects US Nuclear Deal Offer

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday a US proposal for a nuclear agreement went against the country’s national interest, and that Tehran would not seek Washington’s approval for its decisions.

“Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America,” Khamenei said, adding that the proposal was “100 percent against” the ideals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The supreme leader insisted Iran would not abandon its uranium enrichment program, saying that without enrichment its nuclear program was “useless,” and asking of the US: “Who are you to tell us whether we should have a nuclear program or not?”

The US on Saturday presented Iran with a proposal for a deal, after five rounds of negotiations between envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — with a sixth potentially coming this weekend in the Middle East, according to an Axios report overnight Monday-Tuesday.

The same report, citing a senior Iranian official, said the Islamic Republic was open to a deal based on the establishment of an international consortium for the civilian enrichment of uranium — but only if the consortium was located within Iran’s borders.

“If the consortium operates within the territory of Iran, it may warrant consideration. However, should it be based outside the borders of the country, it is certainly doomed to fail,” the official said.

The negotiations have been at apparent loggerheads over the issue of uranium enrichment, with US officials stating on many occasions that Iran must not be allowed to enrich uranium at all, and Iran insisting that it will not give up its right to do so.

The US has not been entirely consistent on this point, however — to the chagrin of Israeli officials, who insist on no enrichment — with some statements indicating openness to a deal like the one inked by the Obama administration in 2015 that would allow low-level enrichment and, for as long as the deal was in effect, place it under international inspection.

The US proposal presented to Iran on Saturday reportedly allows Iran to retain low levels of enrichment for civilian uses like nuclear medicine and commercial power if it agrees to shut down its heavily protected underground sites for a period of time.

The deal as laid out in an Axios report on Monday would stop Iran from new research and development of centrifuges. It would also require Iran to stop enriching the higher levels it currently reaches and to mothball its underground enrichment facilities for a to-be-agreed-upon period.

However, Iran would be able to keep enriching in above-ground facilities to 3 percent, the level needed to fuel a civilian nuclear reactor.

The agreement calls for the eventual creation of a regional consortium to handle uranium enrichment for civilian uses — a plan first studied more than a decade ago in negotiations that led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from that deal during his first term as president.

The consortium would in theory include the US, Iran, and countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and possibly Turkey, with its enrichment activity monitored by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, according to Axios.

Sanctions would be eased after Iran “demonstrates real commitment” to the terms of the deal, as determined by Washington and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has been enriching uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities, and its officials have increasingly warned that they could pursue the bomb.

Israel has threatened to take military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but is seen as unlikely to do so while talks are taking place.

Additionally, a confidential UN report seen by Reuters this week found that Iran had carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the IAEA at three locations.

The report paved the way for a push by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for the board to declare Iran in violation of its non-proliferation obligations.

A separate report said Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade, had grown by roughly half to 408.6 kg (901 lb). That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.