Trump Will Allow Iran To Enrich Uranium In 'Acceptable' Nuke Deal Proposal

A fresh nuclear deal submitted to Iran from the Trump administration over the weekend would allow limited low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for a to-be-determined period of time, Axios writes in a breaking report Monday.

This contradicts the prior public statements of Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have several times made clear that the full dismantlement of Iran's nuclear facilities is a Washington red line.

Tehran, for its part has remained firm on its own red line, saying its ability to enrich uranium for peaceful domestic energy purposes is a matter of national sovereignty. Is Trump meeting Iran in the middle? Rather, the hawks will of course accuse him of caving. According to more from Axios:

• But the proposal described to Axios by two sources with direct knowledge — one of whom provided a point-by-point breakdown — would seem to offer a clearer path to a deal.
• By making this offer, the Trump administration is risking backlash from its allies on the Hill and in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and dozens of Republican senators have pushed the administration to maintain red lines on zero nuclear enrichment and the full dismantlement of Iran's nuclear program.

Israel and its supporters in the US are going to be furious. But Trump has promised time and again peace and stability in the region through the art of the deal - a message conveyed especially strongly in his Gulf tour last month.

Oil prices dropped immediately on the headline...

As for Iran's stance, we detailed earlier in the day that amid ongoing nuclear negotiations, Iran has demanded that the United States clarify precisely how sanctions will be lifted and which ones. A statement said that any new agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program would be conditioned on significant and immediate sanctions relief.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmail Baghaei made clear Monday that Tehran won't back off of this reasonable demand, coming days after the US submitted what it called an "acceptable" proposal.

Baghaei stressed the need for transparent and firm guarantees regarding the "real end of the sanctions" which would also feature details on "how and through what mechanism" they would be dismantled.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said in a statement. "Special Envoy Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it's in their best interest to accept it."

The latest Trump-proposed outline of a new deal has been in Iranian hands since Saturday. However, on Monday Reuters writes that Tehran has deemed aspects of it a 'non-starter':

Iran is poised to reject a U.S. proposal to end a decades-long nuclear dispute, an Iranian diplomat said on Monday, slamming it as a "non-starter" that fails to address Tehran's interests and leaves Washington's stance on uranium enrichment unchanged.

"Iran is drafting a negative response to the U.S. proposal, which could be interpreted as a rejection of the U.S. offer," the senior diplomat, who is close to Iran's negotiating team, told Reuters.

The Islamic Republic is still maintaining that its program is only for peaceful nuclear energy purposes, but a red line for Washington is that Tehran commit to scrapping uranium enrichment - which however the Iranians say is a matter of their sovereign right.

An unidentified diplomat has meanwhile been quoted in Reuters as saying of the new US proposal, "In this proposal, the US stance on enrichment on Iranian soil remains unchanged, and there is no clear explanation regarding the lifting of sanctions."

The US administration has continued to emphasize that the "clock is ticking" on reaching a new deal.

Prior reports say that President Trump had talked the Israelis down from any kind of preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump has said more time is needed to finding a peaceful solution.