Iran’s supreme leader has directed that his nation’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior sources said, hardening Tehran’s stance on one of the main US demands at peace talks.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s order could further frustrate president Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Israeli officials told Reuters Mr Trump had assured their government that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, would be sent out of the country and that any deal must include a clause on this.
Israel, the US and other Western states have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, including pointing to its move to enrich uranium to 60 per cent, higher than needed for civilian use and closer to the 90 per cent needed for a weapon. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said he would not consider the war over until enriched uranium was removed from Iran, Tehran ended its support for proxy militias and its ballistic missile capabilities were eliminated.
“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 two senior Iranian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said.
Iran’s top officials, the sources said, believed that sending the material abroad would leave the country more vulnerable to future attacks by the US and Israel.
Mr Khamenei has the final say on the most important state matters.
The White House and Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
A shaky ceasefire is in place in the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, after which Iran fired at Gulf states hosting US military bases and fighting broke out between Israel and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
But there has been no breakthrough in peace efforts, with a US blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, complicating negotiations mediated by the Pakistani government.
The two Iranian sources said there was deep suspicion in the country that the pause in hostilities was a tactical deception by Washington to create a sense of security before it renewed airstrikes.
Iran’s top peace negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on Wednesday that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday the US was ready to proceed with further attacks on Tehran if Iran did not agree to a peace deal, but suggested Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers”.
The two sides had started to narrow some gaps, the sources noted, but deeper splits remained over Tehran’s nuclear programme, including the fate of its enriched uranium stockpile as well as Tehran’s demand for recognition of its right to enrichment.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran’s priority is to secure a permanent end to the war and credible guarantees that the US and Israel will not launch further attacks.
Only after such assurances are in place, they said, would Iran be prepared to engage in detailed negotiations over its nuclear programme.
Israel is believed to possess an atomic arsenal but it doesn’t confirm or deny it, maintaining a so-called policy of ambiguity.
Before the war, Iran signalled willingness to ship out half of its stockpile of uranium, but the sources said that position changed after repeated threats from Mr Trump to strike the country.
Israeli officials told Reuters it was still unclear whether Mr Trump would decide to attack and whether he would give Israel a green light to resume operations.
Tehran has vowed a crushing response if attacked.
However, the source said there were “feasible formulas” to resolve the matter.
“There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” one of the sources said.
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent when Israel and the US attacked its nuclear facilities in June 2025. How much of that survived was unclear.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in March what remained of that stock was “mainly” stored in a tunnel complex in its Isfahan nuclear facility and that his agency believed slightly more than 200 kg of it was there.
