Khamenei rebuffs proposal for ‘limited’ uranium enrichment under US oversight
The Cradle, June 4, 2025 —
Washington’s latest proposal reportedly includes the establishment of a regional uranium enrichment consortium that could potentially include Gulf nations and Turkiye.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denounced on 4 June a new US proposal for a nuclear deal, which would reportedly allow some level of uranium enrichment and includes the idea of a regional nuclear consortium being established.
“Who are you to tell us whether we should have a nuclear program or not? … Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America,” he went on to say, adding that a nuclear program without enrichment would be “useless.”
Khamenei also said that the proposal is “100 percent against” the ideals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“The Iranian people are the ones who decide,” the supreme leader went on to say. Despite Khamenei’s comments, Iran has not yet submitted its formal response to the proposal.
Axios cited a senior Iranian official as saying on 4 June that Tehran could be open to a nuclear deal with Washington revolving around the idea of a regional uranium enrichment consortium, provided it is based inside the country.
“If the consortium operates within the territory of Iran, it may warrant consideration. However, should it be based outside the borders of the country, it is certainly doomed to fail,” the official said.
The regional consortium, initially proposed by Iranian officials during nuclear talks weeks ago, is a key element of a new US proposal for a deal.
It would consist of regional countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye, as well as the US. Details of the new proposal, including the consortium, were reported by Axios earlier this week.
Iran would have to dismantle its infrastructure for converting and processing uranium, and would not be allowed to build any new enrichment facilities. The report says Iran will also have to temporarily reduce enrichment concentration to three percent, and that the time period will be agreed upon in upcoming talks.
“Iran would have to halt new research and development on centrifuges … The nuclear deal will focus on creating a regional enrichment consortium that meets several conditions,” the report added.
However, there are no details about where the consortium would be based. US officials have reportedly rejected the idea of it being based in Iran.
The consortium would provide nuclear fuel to Iran and any regional states seeking a civil nuclear program. The states involved would monitor each other and all would be subject to supervision from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
An Iranian official close to the talks, who was cited by the New York Times (NYT) on 3 June, said that “Shuttering the facilities would be humiliating and difficult to justify.”
“These facilities also employ hundreds of scientists, some of the country’s most talented, and the government worries that many of the top ones may leave Iran if they are unemployed and waiting for the new consortium to take shape,” the official added.
NYT also notes that Iran is seeking guarantees that it would not be eventually forced out of the consortium. Iranian officials lack trust in US President Donald Trump due to his scrapping of a 2015 nuclear deal with former US president Barack Obama’s administration.
There has also been talk of Omani and Saudi proposals for the construction of an enrichment facility on a Persian Gulf island.
“Negotiators planned to bargain in the next round of talks for the island to be one of their own: They may propose Kish or Qeshm in the Persian Gulf, though other possibilities have been discussed,” two Iranian officials told NYT.
Despite the proposal allowing for limited uranium enrichment, Trump publicly stated on 3 June that Washington will not allow Iran to enrich any uranium, echoing other statements made recently by US officials.
Tehran has said that there will be no agreement if its right to enrich is not respected.
According to an anonymous senior diplomat close to Iran’s negotiating team who spoke with Reuters on 2 June, Iran is planning to reject the proposal and dismiss it as a “non-starter.”
Recent reports in western media say Israel wants the negotiations to fail and is making plans to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, possibly without a green light from Washington.
Trump had said several times in recent months that a failure to reach a deal would result in a US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.
Yet the president has more recently claimed that talks are going well and that he is keen to avoid any military action.
“Iran possesses enough power to render Israel incapable of threatening it. Any malicious action by Israel against Iran would lead to its destruction,” Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told Al Mayadeen.