Khamenei Directive; Uranium “Should Not Leave the Country”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a directive that Iran’s near-weapons-grade uranium “should not leave the country” on Thursday citing two senior Iranian sources, hardening Tehran’s stance on one of the central US demands in the peace talks. “The Supreme Leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” one of the sources said. Iran’s top officials believe that sending the material abroad would leave the country “more vulnerable to future attacks by the United States and Israel”. Israeli officials have separately said that Trump has assured Israel that the stockpile “will be sent out of Iran” — an assurance now in direct contradiction with the Khamenei directive.
Before the war, Iran signalled willingness to ship out half of its 60%-enriched uranium stockpile; that position changed after repeated Trump threats. “There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” one of the Iranian sources said — suggesting Tehran’s preferred technical pathway is in-country dilution rather than transfer. The IAEA estimates Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% when Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025; IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in March that what remained of that stock was “mainly” stored in a tunnel complex at the Isfahan nuclear facility with more than 200 kg there, and some at Natanz. The two sides have started to narrow some gaps, the Reuters sources said, but deeper splits remain over the fate of the stockpile and Iran’s demand for recognition of its right to enrichment.