Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, reportedly issued a directive, asserting that Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium should not be sent abroad. The order, reported by two senior Iranian sources, has further cemented the Islamic Republic’s stance on one of the central demands of the United States to end the ongoing conflict.
One of the sources, who remains anonymous, told Reuters, “The Supreme leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country.”
According to the sources, Khamenei and other top officials believe that sending the stockpile abroad would leave the country more vulnerable to future attacks by the United States and Israel.
The sources said there were “feasible formulas” to resolve the issue.
“There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” said one of the sources.
The White House and the iranian Foreign Ministry are yet to comment on the reports.
The two sources also revealed that there was a deep suspicion in Iran that the suspension of hostilities was a deceptive tactic used by the United States to create a sense of security before resuming attacks.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibag, Iran’s top peace negotiator, said on Wednesday that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” showed that Washington was preparing new attacks.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials told Reuters that Trump had assured Tel Aviv that Iran’s near-weapon-grade uranium would be sent out of the country and that any peace deal must include a clause on the subject.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not consider the war to be over until Iran removes the stockpile, ends its support for proxy militias, and ends its ballistic missile capabilities.
However, Iran maintains that some highly enriched uranium is needed for medical purposes and for a research reactor in Tehran which runs on comparatively small amounts of uranium enriched to about 20 per cent.
