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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has hit back at a US proposal on Tehran’s nuclear programme, describing the Trump administration as “rude” and “thoughtless”.
In his first comments since the US submitted over the weekend what it described as a “detailed and acceptable” proposal for a deal on the issue, Iran’s ultimate decision maker reiterated that the Islamic republic would not stop enriching uranium.
“The impolite and rude leaders of the US say this [that Iran should not have a nuclear industry],” Khamenei said in a speech on Wednesday.
Enrichment, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material, is at the heart of the US-Iranian talks. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that Tehran must stop the practice.
“Our response to the loud and reckless nonsense of a thoughtless US administration is clear,” Khamenei added, in comments also aimed at Israel’s more aggressive line on Iran’s nuclear programme. “The current US and Zionist leaders should know they cannot do a damn thing about this.”
He was speaking days after Trump responded to a report that he would allow Tehran to enrich uranium at low levels under an interim deal, insisting that Washington wanted Iran to completely dismantle its nuclear programme.
A European official confirmed that the Trump administration has been briefing that it would allow Iran to conduct low level enrichment under an interim deal. But Washington has publicly said ending enrichment in Iran is necessary to prevent Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for civilian use. “If we have 100 nuclear plants without uranium enrichment, it’s useless,” Khamenei said. “Because nuclear plants need fuel, and if we cannot produce it domestically, we have to beg the US, which might impose dozens of conditions to supply us with nuclear fuel.”
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels
This is a developing story
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