June 4 (UPI) — Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Wednesday dismissed a U.S. proposal to halt Iranian uranium enrichment, appearing to reject a central U.S. demand in the nuclear program talks.
Khamenei said the proposal was “100% against” Iran’s interests.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program,” Khamenei said. “They cannot do anything about this.”
Axios reported Monday that the U.S. proposal would bar Iran from building new enrichment facilities while establishing a strong system of monitoring and verification.
The New York Times, citing unnamed Iranian and European officials, said the U.S. proposal would let Iran keep enriching uranium at low levels while details were worked out by the U.S. and other countries to block Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Khamenei said Iran won’t agree to a nuclear deal that leaves it dependent on other nations.
“There is one point that is a key element in the nuclear industry, and that is uranium enrichment,” Khamenei said. “A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants.”
He added, “To the American side and others we say: Why are you interfering and trying to say whether Iran should have uranium enrichment or not? That’s none of your business.”
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that there won’t be a nuclear agreement with the U.S. unless Iran’s right to enrich uranium is respected.
Araghchi wrote on X Wednesday, “Iran has paid dearly for these capabilities, and there is no scenario in which we will give up on the patriots who made our dream come true.To reiterate: No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal.”
