Iran rejects any nuclear deal that makes its program reliant on other countries

Iran rejects any nuclear deal that makes its program reliant on other countries

Axios-June4th2025

Barak Ravid

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei criticized the U.S. proposal for a nuclear deal on Wednesday and stressed Iran won’t accept an agreement that makes its nuclear program dependent on other countries.

Why it matters: Khamenei’s speech gave a preview to the upcoming official Iranian response to the U.S. proposal, which American officials expect will be negative.

Axios first reported the details of the U.S. proposal on Monday.
Another round of nuclear talks between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi could take place this weekend, sources say.

What he is saying: Khamenei stressed in his speech that Iran’s investment in its nuclear program over the last several decades has made it part of a small group of countries to have mastered the nuclear fuel cycle.

“There is one point that is a key element in the nuclear industry, and that is uranium enrichment. A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants,” he said.
Khamenei claimed the U.S. demand would make Iran reliant on other countries for nuclear fuel and material.
“Thousands of nuclear scientists and researchers have been trained in Iran. Should we disappoint them, make them unemployed and take away their hope in our country’s future? The rude, insolent U.S. leaders want this. In the current nuclear talks that are being mediated by Oman, the U.S. proposal is 100% against the spirit of ‘We can,'” the Iranian supreme leader said referencing the Iranian government’s slogan of self-reliance.
“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,” he added.

Shortly after Khamenei’s speech, Araghchi wrote on X that “there is no scenario” in which Iran gives up on its nuclear technological achievements.

“To reiterate: No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal,” he wrote.

Driving the news: The U.S. proposal would allow limited low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for a to-be-determined period of time.

The proposal focuses on creating a regional enrichment consortium under these conditions:

Iran won’t be allowed to develop domestic enrichment capabilities beyond those necessary for civilian purposes.
After signing the agreement, Iran will have to temporarily reduce its enrichment concentration to 3% for a period of time that must still be negotiated.
Iran’s underground enrichment facilities will be “non-operational” for a period of time agreed by the parties.
The enrichment activity in Iran’s above-ground facilities will temporarily be limited to the level needed for nuclear reactor fuel.