ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday doubled down on rejecting the United States’ “no uranium enrichment” precondition for a nuclear deal, accusing Washington of trying to obstruct Tehran’s nuclear development and declaring, “They can't do a damn thing about it.”
Speaking at the 36th anniversary of the passing of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei said, “The first thing the US insists on is that Iran should not have a nuclear industry, so that we would be dependent on [the United States of] America.”
“Our response to the US's nonsense is clear: they cannot do a damn thing about it,” he stressed.
Khamenei further criticized Washington’s opposition to Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, asserting that the issue is a sovereign right and not subject to foreign interference. “National independence means that the country should not wait for the green or red light from the United States and its ilk,” he said, adding that “a key element of national independence is the principle of ‘we can.’”
“In the nuclear dossier, the US’s plan is 100 percent contradictory to the ‘we can' [principle],” he added.
Indirect, Oman-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington have been ongoing since April 12, with the fifth and most recent round held on May 23.
The talks mark the most significant engagement since 2018, when US President Donald Trump, during his first term in office, withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Following the US withdrawal and reimposition of sweeping sanctions, Tehran gradually reduced its compliance.
Importantly, a key roadblock in the revived talks has been the issue of uranium enrichment. While US negotiators are pushing for “zero enrichment” by Iran, Tehran maintains that this condition is a nonstarter.
US President Trump on Tuesday insisted that “Under our [new] potential Agreement - WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” In a statement he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump added that “the AUTOPEN should have stopped Iran a long time ago from ‘enriching’.”
Trump’s remarks notably contradicted media reports circulating in recent days that suggested the US might allow limited low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for a to-be-determined period of time.
In a seeming response to the US president, Iran’s supreme leader reiterated on Wednesday that “uranium enrichment is the key to the nuclear issue, and the enemies have also put their fingers on enrichment.”
Addressing Washington, Khamenei asked, “Whether Iran has enrichment or not, what does it matter to you? Who are you?” adding that Iran has achieved a complete nuclear fuel cycle with great efforts and that the nuclear industry is not just for energy.
Khamenei’s remarks also came shortly after the White House confirmed on Saturday that the US had sent Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was in Tehran’s “best interest to accept” the “detailed and acceptable” proposal, emphasizing that “President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday acknowledged that a US proposal for a new nuclear agreement had been delivered through Omani mediation. However, the Iranian diplomat criticized that the proposal contains “many ambiguities and questions” and that many parts of it “are unclear.”
The developments also follow a recent report by the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which noted that it is “of serious concern” that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60 percent has reached an estimated 408.6 kilograms as of May 17 - an increase of 133.8 kilograms since February.
Iran on Saturday condemned the IAEA’s report as relying on “unreliable and misleading information” from Israel and repeating “biased and baseless accusations.”
Tehran further warned that if certain countries exploit its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog or use the latest IAEA report to undermine its transparency, it will take “appropriate measures” to defend its legitimate rights and hold those countries “fully responsible for the consequences.”
