Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh declared in an earlier interview with the Associated Press: "I can tell you clearly that no enriched uranium will be shipped to the United States." This statement directly contradicts Trump's recent tough stance.
Trump claimed that the U.S. military would enter Iran to obtain approximately 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of enriched uranium, estimated to still be buried under the rubble after the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities last year. Khatibzadeh said: "This is absolutely not going to work. I can assure you that while we are willing to address any concerns, we will absolutely not accept anything that is simply not going to work."
The US presented three conditions, which Iran rejected one by one.
At the negotiating table, the US made extremely tough demands: it demanded that Iran dismantle its three core nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan; it demanded that Iran transport all remaining enriched uranium within its borders to the United States; and it demanded that Iran cease uranium enrichment activities for 20 years.
Iran's response to this list was a systematic rejection. Another deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, previously stated that Iran could discuss the limits of its nuclear program, but "zero enrichment" was an absolute red line, and Iran maintained that enriching uranium within its own territory was an inalienable sovereign right.
Iran's 20-year suspension proposal rejected; Iran counters with a 5-year plan.
Iran has formally rejected the US proposal to suspend negotiations for 20 years and has put forward a counter-proposal: shortening the suspension period to 5 years. This counter-proposal shows that Iran has not completely closed the door to negotiations, but it has also clearly defined the upper limit of its concessions.
Iranian officials believe that the US's current negotiating stance is too hardline and is the main obstacle preventing substantial progress in nuclear negotiations. Iran's core demand is to retain its domestic uranium enrichment capacity, subject to certain restrictions, rather than abandoning it entirely.
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