'Not waiting for US green light': Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei slams America's nuclear deal proposal stating no uranium enrichment

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday (June 4) said that the US cannot have a say in the country's uranium enrichment as a part of the nuclear deal between the two countries. However, he did not completely dismiss the possibility of reaching an agreement with Washington.

“If we had 100 nuclear power plants while not having enrichment, they are not usable for us,” Khamenei said. “If we do not have enrichment, then we should extend our hand (begging) to the US.” “Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America,” Khamenei said, adding that the proposal was “100 percent against” the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Khamenei referred to the US offer as being “completely contrary to the spirit of ‘we can’,” a phrase tied to a popular Iranian government slogan, AP reported.

On Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that Tehran would not bow to pressure by the United States to dismantle its nuclear program. In a speech televised by the state broadcaster, Pezeshkian said Iran wants peace and security and is not seeking nuclear weapons. He added that it is those who claim Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and mass destruction who are scaring Muslims in the region.

Khamenei's remark came days after US President Donald Trump said that the US will not allow any uranium enrichment as part of any deal. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, "The AUTOPEN should have stopped Iran a long time ago from 'enriching.' Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!"

His remarks came after a media report claimed a US proposal for a nuclear deal presented to Iran would permit limited low-level uranium enrichment within Iran for an unspecified period. According to a report by the US-based news website Axios, the US proposal calls for a halt to Iran’s new centrifuge research and development, restrict domestic enrichment to civilian purposes and establish a regional consortium to oversee compliance. The US proposal would also ban Iran from building new enrichment sites and require the dismantling of key uranium processing infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Iran said that it demanded that the United States clarify exactly how sanctions will be lifted if the two sides are to reach a new agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme after the proposal was submitted.

The fifth round of US-Iran nuclear negotiations was held on May 23 in Rome under Omani mediation. The pair has conducted seven weeks of negotiations over the nuclear programme. Trump, who withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, is seeking a new deal.