Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has issued a strict directive banning the transfer of the country’s highly enriched uranium stockpile abroad, directly defying a central demand by US President Donald Trump in the ongoing peace negotiations. Senior Iranian sources confirmed that the establishment has reached a firm consensus to retain the sensitive material within domestic borders, driven by deep-seated suspicions that the current pause in hostilities is a tactical deception by Washington. Tehran fears that surrendering its remaining nuclear leverage would leave the nation highly vulnerable to subsequent airstrikes by the United States and Israel. This hardening of Iran’s position throws a major wrench into fragile diplomatic backchannels, as President Trump has explicitly assured Israel that any final treaty must include the total removal or destruction of Iran’s near-weapons-grade inventory.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that Iran holds roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity—a short technical step away from bomb-grade material—much of which survived the joint US-Israeli bombardment of atomic infrastructure in June 2025 and remains secured within fortified subterranean tunnels at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities. While US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed cautious optimism regarding overall ceasefire progress, the fate of the nuclear cache remains the primary obstacle to a comprehensive deal. Seeking a middle ground to save the faltering talks, Iranian negotiators have proposed alternative technical solutions, such as diluting the highly enriched stockpile back to lower, civilian-grade levels under strict IAEA supervision. However, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing not to end the conflict until all weapons-grade material is physically extracted from Iranian custody, the deadlock over the stockpile severely threatens the diplomatic push led by regional intermediaries.
