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The United States has warned that any new nuclear agreement with Iran must include a complete halt to uranium enrichment, a condition Tehran has firmly rejected as non-negotiable.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, Iran has continuously maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, a claim Western intelligence agencies say is bullshit. For civilian purposes, a country would need to enrich uranium to around 3–5% purity for nuclear power generation, and up to 20% for medical and research applications. However, Iran is now enriching uranium to 60% purity, a level that has no credible civilian justification and leaves the country just a short technical step from weapons-grade 90% enrichment. Western intelligence agencies have suggested that it’s intentionally shortening its “breakout time” to a bomb, and there’s more concern due to Iran’s secret network of undisclosed or hardened enrichment sites, some deeply buried under mountains—like the Fordow facility—which makes military strikes significantly more difficult.
What’s going on now: During an appearance on ABC, President Trump’s special envoy for Iran, Steve Witkoff, said that any future nuclear agreement must prohibit Iran from enriching uranium under any circumstances. “We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability. Everything begins with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization. And we will not allow a bomb to get here.”
He added, “We hope that it will lead to some real positivity,” hinting at upcoming diplomatic efforts in Europe. However, he reiterated that without Iran giving up enrichment, talks “will lead nowhere.”
Despite this, Iranian officials quickly rejected Witkoff’s demands, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responding, “Unrealistic expectations stop negotiations, enrichment in Iran is not something that can be stopped.” He accused Witkoff of being “completely at a distance from the reality of the negotiations,” and said that uranium enrichment would continue “with or without a deal.”
Araghchi later posted on X that “Mastering enrichment technology is a hard-earned and homegrown scientific achievement… Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”
