Iran’s top leaders have responded forcefully to Washington’s demand that Iran abandon uranium enrichment altogether as a condition for coming to an agreement with the Trump administration. Talks between the two governments are currently stalled around that issue. Yesterday, according to IRNA news agency Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei stated that Iran doesn’t need permission from anyone to enrich uranium. American officials are making a mistake when they say they won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium, he emphasized, and said he doesn’t expect a positive outcome from current negotiations between the two governments, although nothing is certain at this point.. The Islamic Republic will pursue its own policies and methods, he said.
Both Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian weighed in on this issue as well. Echoing Khamenei, yesterday Araghchi said that Iran’s stance on enrichment is non-negotiable and that the U.S. has raised “unreasonable and illogical” demands during negotiations. In additional statements reported today, he remarked that the government is evaluating whether to attend the next round of talks with the U.S. at all, since its excessive demands are jeopardizing the whole diplomatic process. Tehran is ready to provide whatever assurances and transparency the U.S. requires on the country’s peaceful nuclear program, but “enrichment will continue with or without an agreement.” However, in return, he went on, discussions must take place “about the removal of the cruel sanctions imposed because of allegations about our nuclear program, and these sanctions must be lifted.”
