Tehran (TDI): In a televised talk, at the death anniversary of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader Khamenei said that Iran will not abandon uranium enrichment, as the United States has said in the ongoing talks between the two countries.
After five rounds of the talks, there is little progress to be reported. However, neither side has yet made any announcement about quitting or ending the talks. The Supreme Leader, in his speech, noted that uranium enrichment is Iran’ national interest.
The enrichment is in line with our belief in self-reliance, he noted. “The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100% against our interests… The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?”
You Americans possess atomic bombs and have the massive destruction of the world at your disposal. What business is it of yours whether the Iranian nation should or shouldn’t have uranium enrichment or whether it should or shouldn’t have a nuclear industry?
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 4, 2025
“Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear program and the enemies have focused on the enrichment,” Khamenei said, expressing a clear discord with the US.
The United States, in a bid to revive the nuclear deal which Trump arrogantly ditched during his first term as the President, has sent out a proposal to Iran, via Oman – the official facilitator of the talks.
This proposal comes after the five rounds of talks have concluded, in which an agreement could not be reached. Iran was represented by its Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi while Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff led the US side in talks.
In the current nuclear talks that are being mediated by Oman, the US’s proposal is 100% against the spirit of “We can.”
What the US is demanding is that you should have no nuclear industry at all and be dependent on them.— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 4, 2025
The 2015 Nuclear Deal, from which the US withdrew, allowed Iran to enrich uranium to certain levels, which were constantly under scrutiny. As part of the deal, some of its enriched material was also transferred to Russia.
The United States demands the same from Iran now. However, Iranian leaders are unbending on stopping uranium enrichment as well as transferring the enriched material to another country. Thus, no major breakthrough has been achieved yet.
Nuzhat Rana is the Managing Editor (website) at The Diplomatic Insight.
