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Iran said Wednesday that its enriched uranium stockpile is not part of current negotiations with the U.S., pushing back against President Donald Trump’s demand that it be transferred or destroyed immediately.
Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the issue was not on the agenda of the talks, according to remarks carried by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
“This issue is not on the agenda of the negotiations,” Bagheri said.
His remarks came on the sidelines of the first International Security Forum held under the auspices of Russia’s Security Council in the Moscow region.
Trump said Monday that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium would either be transferred to the U.S. “immediately” to be destroyed, or “destroyed in place, or at another acceptable location.”
Bagheri’s comments directly pushed back against that demand, while Tehran and Washington continue indirect contacts aimed at ending the war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 and was followed by Iranian retaliation.
Asked whether indirect contacts with the U.S. were continuing, Bagheri told TASS: “As for indirect contacts with the Americans, yes, they are continuing.”
The diplomatic process between Washington and Tehran is being mediated by Pakistan.
Bagheri also said Iran and Oman were discussing a new mechanism for ship passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran and Oman, as adjacent states, are holding talks together until a new mechanism for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is defined,” he told TASS.
Bagheri said the conditions and order of passage through the strait would not remain the same.
“As for the Strait of Hormuz specifically, undoubtedly, the conditions of passage through the strait and the order of passage will not be the same. A completely different order will emerge,” he said.
The forum in the Moscow region runs from May 26 to 29. TASS is the forum’s media partner.
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