A central point that has emerged is that any potential deal will not deny Iran the right to enrich uranium on its own soil. This position has been echoed in the latest remarks by top officials on both sides. Iran’s Supreme Leader has reinforced this stance, emphasizing that uranium enrichment is a matter of national sovereignty and national security. He also issued a fatwa prohibiting the development or possession of nuclear weapons, underscoring Iran’s declared commitment to peaceful nuclear energy.
These red lines—especially the right to enrichment—are seen as non-negotiable, rooted in Iran’s lack of trust toward the West based on previous experiences. As a result, any viable deal will likely have to respect these boundaries to move forward.
Iran's leader provides the reasoning behind Iran's right to Uranium enrichment
“Now, in the nuclear industry, there is one key point that functions like the master key: Uranium enrichment.
Our enemies have fixated on this enrichment—they’ve put their finger exactly on this. A vast nuclear industry, without the ability to enrich uranium, is essentially useless. Why? Because for our power plants, we’d have to stretch out our hand and ask others for fuel.
It’s like having oil in your country but being forbidden from building refineries or producing gasoline—you have crude oil, but you have to buy gasoline from someone else. And that country might sell it to you at whatever price they wish—or they might just refuse altogether, making up an excuse. That’s how they behave.
Even if we had 100 nuclear reactors, without enrichment, they’d be useless—because nuclear power plants require fuel. If we can’t produce that fuel ourselves, we’d have to go begging to the US, and they might set dozens of conditions just to give us fuel.
We already experienced this in the 2000s, when we needed 20% enriched uranium. The US president at the time sent 2 heads of state—so-called friends—to act as intermediaries and told us: ‘Give us part of your 3.5% enriched uranium, and we’ll give you the 20% fuel you need.’ Our officials agreed, and an exchange was planned.
I said the exchange must be done like this: They bring the 20% enriched fuel to Bandar Abbas, we test it to ensure it’s genuine, and then we hand over the 3.5% in return. When they saw that we were serious and insistent on inspecting the 20% fuel first, they backed out of the deal and broke their promise.
Meanwhile, amid all this political back-and-forth, our scientists produced the 20% enriched uranium domestically, right here inside this country.
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Iran is a strong nation, an independent nation. Our nuclear industry is one of the most advanced in the world, and we employ thousands of scientists, researchers, and other workers. Should we give all of this up? Should we make all of them jobless? Are we insane?
You [United States] have nuclear capabilities. You have atomic bombs. You possess devastating weapons.
What right do you have to question whether the Iranian nation should have nuclear enrichment or not, or a nuclear industry or not? We are a sovereign nation, we have the right to decide our own future. It has nothing to do with you. This is the principle of our independence.
The latest American proposal is 100% against our doctrine and against our positions.
From here on, I pledge to the Iranian nation, with the help of God, we will strengthen our national power as much as we can."
After the statement by the Iranian leader, the foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, issued his own declaration on X:
"There is a reason why only a few nations master the ability to fuel nuclear reactors. Apart from significant financial resources and political vision, it requires a solid industrial base and a technological-academic complex that can produce necessary human resources and know-how. Iran has paid dearly for these capabilities, and there is no scenario in which we will give up on the patriots who made our dream come true. To reiterate: No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear wrapons, we have a deal."
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