Iran Rejects Nuclear Proposal Amid US Threats Of "Grave Consequences"

On Saturday, the United States said that a new offer for the nuclear deal has been shared with Iran, which the latter confirmed.

In a White House daily briefing on Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff “has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it's in their best interest to accept it. And if not, they will face grave consequences as the president himself has reiterated."

She added that “President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,” Leavitt added. 

“Under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

However, per a Reuters report, Iran has rejected the proposal drafted by the US, as it fails to address Tehran's interest or soften Washington's stance on uranium enrichment. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said in a post earlier that Iran “will respond to the US proposal in line with the principles, national interests and rights of the people of Iran.”

This comes amid the talks of a sixth round of deliberations between the US and Iran, regarding the latter's nuclear program. CNN reported that there might be an interim deal between the countries as soon as the next round of negotiations.

At the heart of the issue is that the US has been insisting that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment facilities, which Iran rejects outright. Iran denies that it seeks to enrich uranium, however, a report by the UN atomic agency shows that Iran has carried out secret nuclear activities with material that was not disclosed, at three locations.

"Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear programme and the enemies have focused on the enrichment," Khamenei said in a televised speech delivered on the commemoration of the death of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The US proposal "contradicts our nation's belief in self-reliance and the principle of 'We Can'," he said.

“Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America,” he said, and added that the US nuclear deal was "100 per cent against" the ideology of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Dozens of institutions vital to Iran's economy, including its central bank and national oil company, have been blacklisted since 2018 for, according to Washington, "supporting terrorism or weapons proliferation."

"The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear programme. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have an enrichment?," he added.