Key Takeaways
- The US negotiating team’s proposal to Iran allows for limited uranium enrichment for civilian purposes.
- US President Donald Trump contradicted the proposal by saying he would not allow any uranium enrichment.
- The implications of Trump’s statement on the Iran nuclear deal are unclear, but it may impact the US’s stance on the agreement.
Sacramento: US President Donald Trump publicly contradicted his own administration’s nuclear proposal to Iran on Monday, saying that he would not allow any uranium enrichment just hours after reports revealed his negotiators had offered Tehran limited enrichment rights.
“Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social Monday evening.
The statement directly undercut Axios’ Monday report, confirmed by two US5 officials, that a detailed proposal delivered Saturday by US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to Iranian officials via Omani intermediaries would allow Iran to maintain low-level uranium enrichment for civilian purposes, including nuclear medicine and commercial power generation.
Following Trump’s latest remarks, Axios updated its report, saying the story on Witkoff’s proposal “sparked immediate alarm among Iran hawks in Washington and in Israel, before Trump himself weighed in.”
“The question is whether Trump will stick to that red line or show more flexibility to secure a deal than his statement suggests,” it said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the proposal on Monday as “very tough” but refused to clarify the discrepancy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials had repeatedly said that any nuclear agreement would require Iran to dismantle its enrichment capabilities completely.
Iran has consistently said it won’t sign any deal that doesn’t allow enrichment for civilian purposes.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran would not respond positively to a US draft nuclear proposal containing “radical and maximum” demands.
He made the remarks during a weekly press conference in Tehran while commenting on a US proposal for a potential nuclear deal, which was presented to Iran on Saturday by Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi.
Baghaei said both Iran and the United States were aware of each other’s red lines, noting that Iran insists on continuing its uranium enrichment and securing the effective removal of what it calls “cruel” sanctions — two issues he said must be included in any potential agreement with Washington.
He noted that the United States had not provided clarification on the removal of the sanctions, adding that Iran needed a clear understanding of the mechanisms for lifting them and assurances it would see tangible effects, particularly in sectors such as foreign trade, economy and banking.
Trump and Witkoff “have repeatedly offered inconsistent public messages about whether Iran would be allowed to retain the capacity to enrich uranium to lower levels for civilian purposes,” AP News reported.
Iran and the United States have held five rounds of talks since April, with three sessions in Muscat and two in Rome. The talks aim to resolve Tehran’s nuclear program and lift US sanctions.
