DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday (Jun 4) Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment, rejecting a key US demand aimed at resolving a decades-long nuclear dispute, that he said was against the Islamic Republic’s interests.
The US proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
After five round of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran’s insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran’s refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium – possible raw material for nuclear bombs.
“Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear programme and the enemies have focused on the enrichment,” Khamenei said in a televised speech. The US proposal “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance and the principle of ‘We Can’,” he said.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear programme. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have an enrichment?,” he added.
Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and has long denied accusations by Western powers that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
