Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied a report that said Tehran may pause uranium enrichment as part of a temporary deal with the US.
“This report is simply false and fictitious,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, according to Tehran Times. “Enrichment is an integral part of our peaceful nuclear program, which stems from our inalienable right under the [Non-Proliferation Treaty] and is also enshrined in UNSC Resolution 2231.”
Baghaei was responding to a report from Reuters that said Iran was considering a year-long pause on enrichment as part of a “political agreement” that would also involve the US releasing some frozen Iranian funds and recognizing Tehran’s right to refine uranium for civilian purposes.
Iran wants access to $6 billion that was transferred from South Korea to Qatar as part of a US-Iran prisoner swap under the Biden administration. Under the agreement, Tehran was supposed to get access to the funds, but the $6 billion was frozen again.
The US and Iran have been at odds over Tehran’s enrichment program as Trump officials have been demanding it be dismantled, a condition Iranian officials have made clear is a non-starter.
While Baghaei denied the Reuters report, there are other signs that the US and Iran may pursue an interim deal to get over the impasse and buy more time for negotiations on a lasting agreement. The New York Times reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff has “dropped his early objections to an interim understanding that lays out principles for a final deal.”
Iran has made clear it’s willing to reduce enrichment levels as part of a deal with the US, so it’s possible Tehran could be willing to stop enriching at higher levels for an interim agreement that may be able to prevent a US or Israeli attack.
President Trump has been threatening to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached, despite his intelligence agencies recently concluding that there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon. For the time being, Trump still wants to pursue diplomacy and has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an attack wouldn’t be “appropriate.”
