The new US plan for the nuclear deal proposes allowing Iran to enrich uranium at low levels. At the same time, the United States, together with other countries, will work on a broader agreement that would block the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
This is reported by The New York Times, citing Iranian and European officials.
The US is proposing an international consortium of countries in the region to manage nuclear facilities. It would likely include the US, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf Arab monarchies. The US would facilitate the construction of nuclear reactors and negotiate the construction of enrichment facilities.
Until the consortium is launched, Iran will be able to enrich uranium to a level sufficient for civilian needs. But after that, Iran will no longer be able to independently enrich uranium on its territory.
Iran has expressed its willingness to consider participating in such a consortium, but only if it is located on Iranian territory. The proposal does not specify exactly where the enrichment facility would be located, but the United States has said it cannot be in Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that there would be no deal without respect for his countryʼs right to enrich uranium.
An Iranian official said that closing two enrichment plants — a national pride that the state has spent billions of dollars on — would be humiliating and difficult to justify. Moreover, hundreds of the country’s best scientists work there, and the government is concerned that they will go abroad if they remain unemployed while the consortium is being formed.
Omani and Saudi officials have discussed the possibility of building an enrichment facility on an island in the Persian Gulf. This would offer the parties a compromise: the facility would be much more visible to the world than Iran’s current nuclear facilities, and the Iranians would be able to claim that they are enriching uranium on their own territory. In unofficial comments, two Iranian officials said their country was open to such an idea if the island was Iranian. Iran is expected to make such a proposal in the next round of talks.
Reuters previously reported that Iran plans to reject the US proposal for a nuclear deal. The proposal does not include the full and immediate lifting of sanctions, as well as recognition of Iranʼs right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Instead, the US proposes a gradual lifting of sanctions and insists that uranium enrichment on Iranian territory must be stopped.
What preceded
The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the EU. They agreed that the Iranian authorities would give up their nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Iran nuclear deal and launched a "maximum pressure" campaign — new sanctions against the Iranian regime in order to obtain significant concessions from it.
Tehran resumed uranium production after Trump pulled out of the deal. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program has “advanced significantly,” Axios noted.
The Biden administration has been conducting indirect talks with Iran to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts collapsed in late 2022 when the United States accused Iran of making “unfounded” demands related to an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the months that followed, the Trump administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “off the table”.
After being re-elected for a second term, Trump renewed his “maximum pressure” campaign. In March, Axios reported that the US president had given Iran two months to reach a new nuclear deal.
Author: Oleksandr Bulin
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.