In the latest chapter of the ongoing nuclear standoff with Iran, President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his hardline stance against Tehran’s insistence on uranium enrichment.
“They’re just asking for things that you can’t do. They don’t want to give up what they have to give up,” President Trump told reporters from the White House. “They seek enrichment. We can’t have enrichment.”
This follows a U.S. proposal presented to Iran in late May, which Tehran has dismissed as “unacceptable.” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei claimed that Iran’s forthcoming counter-proposal would be “reasonable, logical, and balanced”—though U.S. officials and longtime Middle East watchers have reason to be skeptical, given Iran’s long history of duplicity on nuclear issues.
According to Baghaei, the Islamic Republic intends to submit its counter-proposal through Omani channels, likely by the end of the week. While Trump mentioned that talks might resume Thursday, officials on both sides have acknowledged Sunday as a more likely date, with potential venues being Muscat or Oslo.
Baghaei added, “We must ensure before the lifting of sanctions that Iran will effectively benefit economically and that its banking and trade relations with other countries will return to normal.”
Translation: Iran wants sanctions relief up front, while offering only vague promises in return—a tactic the regime has perfected over decades of diplomatic posturing.
Khamenei Vows to Keep Enriching Uranium
Even as diplomats haggle over logistics, the real position of the Iranian regime was made perfectly clear by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Last week, Khamenei outright rejected the U.S. proposal and pledged to continue uranium enrichment on Iranian soil—an unmistakable red flag for those concerned about Iran’s ambitions for a nuclear weapon.
Iran maintains that its program is peaceful, but its actions tell a different story. Since President Trump rightly withdrew from the flawed 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal, Tehran has repeatedly violated the terms of that pact, enriching uranium well beyond agreed limits.
Baghaei also accused the West of “turning a blind eye to Israel’s nuclear program” and claimed that sensitive Israeli documents—yet to be unveiled—would supposedly expose Western hypocrisy.
“The negotiating parties should not allow Israel to disrupt diplomatic processes,” he added, in a thinly veiled attempt to shift focus from Iran’s own noncompliance.
President Trump confirmed that Iran was the main topic of his recent phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Netanyahu’s office, Trump assured him that nuclear talks with Iran would continue by the end of the week.
