Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has let his displeasure about Donald Trump and the US administration's demands in the crucial nuclear talks be known publicly, calling them nonsensical and utterly outrageous.
Khamenei, who is increasingly doubtful that a new nuclear deal with the US will see the light of day, has called the US' demands of Tehran ending all uranium enrichment as "excessive and outrageous".
Asked about the progress being made by Tehran and Washington in drafting a new nuclear deal, a visibly annoyed Mr Khamenei said, "I don't think nuclear talks with the US will bring any result. I don't know what will happen."
'NOT NEGOTIABLE'
Four rounds of talks in, Mr Khamenei, frustrated with Washington's insistence over 'no enrichment', said the US should avoid such "nonsense" demands, which Iran has made clear, is "non-negotiable".
Giving a cold shoulder to Washington over its request to hold the next (fifth) round of talks, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said, "A date has been suggested but we have not yet accepted it." However, there has been some talk in both capitals about the possible venue being Rome.
'DEFIES LOGIC'
Iran's foreign minister went on to say that the demands being made by the US side during negotiations "defy logic". Such an approach "creates problems" and might derail talks, he hinted. He said Iran is waiting for logic to prevail in Washington before Tehran even considers the next round of talks.
"We are witnessing positions on the US side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That's why we have not determined the next round of talks. We are reviewing the matter and hope logic will ultimately prevail," he said.
Both sides have been combative regarding talks on uranium enrichment, and neither is looking to budge on its stance, leading to, what now seems like, a stalemate. Preempting this, Donald Trump has issued an open-ended threat to Iran - "move quickly or something bad is going to happen".
TRUMP'S WARNING TO IRAN
In recent times - when Iran was reluctant to even come to the negotiating table - Donald Trump had threatened Tehran on multiple occasions, saying Iran would be bombed and shall also face very harsh sanctions if it did not compromise on its nuclear programme. President Trump has already moved in two US aircraft carrier fleet - USS Carl Vinson and USS Harry S Truman - in the Arabian Sea while also ordering the largest-ever deployment of B-2 bombers in the Indian Ocean - at its military base in Diego Garcia.
Satellite images have shown at least six B-2 stealth bombers parked along the military base runway in Diego Garcia - a joint Indian Ocean military base of the US and Britain. That's roughly 30 per cent of its B2 Bomber fleet.
NUKE AMBITION
Steve Witkoff, United States Special Envoy to the Middle East has said that for civilian purposes, 3.67 per cent uranium enrichment is enough. Tehran has already gone far beyond that. Enrichment levels of uranium in Iran are already up to 60 per cent - a short, technical step away from reaching weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
"This cannot be allowed," Mr Witkoff has said, while Donald Trump backed him, saying, "Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. These are radicalised people, and they cannot have a nuclear weapon."
