The future of high -risk negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program remains involved in uncertainty as the United States and Iran collide publicly for the terms of a provisional agreement proposed by the Trump administration that is intended to pave the way for a more lasting agreement.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatolá Ali Khamenei, criticized that proposal during a speech on Wednesday, saying that “contradicts our power principle in 100%” and promised that Iran would not accept to enrich uranium in his own soil, calling him “a key tool in the nuclear program.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, succinctly stressed the terms of Iran in an X position shortly after the Ayatollah’s speech, writing “without enrichment, without treatment.”
Iran’s position contrasts strongly with that of President Donald Trump, who emphasized his social media platform on Monday.
“According to our possible agreement, we will not allow any enrichment of uranium!” Trump wrote in Truth Social.
Although the president and officials of his cabinet have repeatedly said that Iran should end enrichment activities under the terms of an agreement, US officials say that the initial provisional proposal, which only intends to be a springboard to a broader agreement, does not prohibit that they will enrich a uranium at low levels, while a long -term solution to combine the Civil Nuclear Program of Iran could be established.
Trump’s position seemed to contradict the position betrayed by his negotiators, and although Iran they have not yet responded formally to the provisional proposal, it was not clear on Wednesday if the United States would support all the terms in its initial offer.
If the delegations of Iran and the USA would meet for a sixth round of nuclear negotiations, they were not clear, although an American official said that a possible meeting was being discussed in the next few days.
After making a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Trump said he would look for Moscow to play a more important role in negotiations with Iran.
“President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be useful to bring this to a rapid conclusion,” Trump wrote in Truth Social. “It is my opinion that Iran has been slowly displacing its decision on this important matter, and we will need a definitive response in a very short period of time!”
But optimism among US and Iranian officials seems to have cooled in recent days.
An Iranian official, who spoke with ABC News about the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate negotiations, said the terms proposed by the United States are “unreasonable, greedy and unconventional.”
“The United States constantly changes its positions, which has led to a growing accumulation of distrust regarding its intentions and greater uncertainty about its will and seriousness to fulfill the commitments, assuming that any agreement must be formed,” they told ABC News.
“This document is not even open to be reviewed or answered,” added the official.
Iran is pressing for the relief of sanctions that have seriously damaged the national economy. This week, the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmail Baghaei, said that Tehran needs guarantees with respect to the “real final of the sanctions.”
That would include details about “how already through what mechanism” they would be raised, said Baghaei, in comments taken by the official Irna news agency.
Araghchi and Khamenei were low in the United States proposal in comments this week.
The document has “many ambiguities and questions,” Iranian Foreign Minister in a telegram post on Tuesday said Tuesday. “Many problems in this proposal are not clear,” he added.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman, Morgan Winsor and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
