Iran rejects push to suspend uranium enrichment to reach US deal

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday ruled out suspending uranium enrichment as part of any nuclear deal with the United States — a key demand from Washington in successive rounds of talks between the foes.

The issue has come into focus in recent weeks, with Iran staunchly defending its right to enrich uranium as part of what it says is a civilian nuclear programme, while the United States wants it to stop.

The negotiations, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the two sides since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

Trump described the latest round of discussions in Rome as “very, very good”, while Iran’s foreign minister described it as “complicated”.

Tehran wants a new deal that would ease sanctions battering its economy.

Western governments and Israel suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons — a charge it strongly denies.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the talks for Washington, said the United States “could not authorise even one percent” of enrichment by Iran.

‘Totally false’

On Monday, Iran ruled out suspending its uranium enrichment. “This information is a figment of the imagination and totally false,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, asked about the possibility during a press briefing in Tehran.

Iran insists it has the right to a civilian nuclear programme, including for energy, and considers the US demand a red line that violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.

Following the latest round of Omani-mediated talks in Rome, Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi downplayed the progress, stressing “the negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings”.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the fifth round concluded “with some but not conclusive progress”, adding he hoped “the remaining issues” would be clarified in the coming days.

But on Sunday Trump said the ongoing discussions had been “very, very good”.

“I think we could have some good news on the Iran front,” he said, adding that an announcement could come “over the next two days.”

No date has yet been set for the next talks, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.

The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.

They also come before the October expiry of the 2015 accord, which aimed to allay US and European Union suspicions that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.

Iran has ramped up its nuclear activities since the collapse of the 2015 deal, and is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.

Experts say that uranium enriched beyond 20 percent can be further enriched to a weapons-grade level quickly.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to visit Oman this week.