By Parisa Hafezi, Elwely Elwelly and Jana Choukeir for Reuters
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . Photo: AFP
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment, rejecting a key US demand aimed at resolving a decades-long nuclear dispute, that he says is 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.
On Monday, Reuters reported Tehran was poised to reject the US proposal on the grounds that it was a "non-starter" that failed to soften Washington's stance on uranium enrichment or to address Tehran's interests.
Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran since his return to the White House in January, which included tightening sanctions and threatening to bomb Iran if the negotiations yield no deal.
During his first term in 2018, Trump ditched Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Iran responded by escalating enrichment far beyond the pact's limits.
Iran's arch-foe Israel, which sees Iran's nuclear programme as an existential threat, has repeatedly threatened to bomb the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
- Reuters
