IRAN said its ability to enrich uranium was “absolutely non-negotiable” after US President Donald Trump’s special envoy repeated a demand that the Islamic Republic cease its production of the fissile material.
“The issue of enrichment, as part of the natural cycle of Iran’s nuclear industry, is absolutely non-negotiable,” Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said in a televised press conference on Monday, adding that uranium enrichment is “a vital technology.”
On Sunday, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s negotiator in nuclear talks with Iran, told ABC News that any future deal with Tehran had to include the suspension of uranium enrichment and it was “a very, very clear red line” for the US.
Iran and the US started indirect negotiations in April in order to end a years-long impasse over the Islamic Republic’s atomic work. Tehran’s uranium enrichment escalated significantly after Trump scuttled an earlier nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed tough sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Iran insists its ability to enrich uranium is for civilian use only and it has no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons. The US says the Islamic Republic cannot have access to any nuclear technology that can potentially be weaponised.
Witkoff said a US proposal had been delivered to the Iranians and he believed a solution could be reached. Baghaei said on Monday that Iran hadn’t received any written proposals from the US and the country had “repeatedly changed” its verbal proposals during their talks so far.
“We want to get to a solution here and we think we will be able to but everything begins, from our stand point, with a deal that does not include enrichment,” Witkoff said on Sunday, adding that the next round of talks is likely to be “some time this week in Europe.” –BLOOMBERG
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