Iran: Enriched uranium will not leave the country

Tehran continues to harden its position toward the West and has made clear it has no intention of compromising on the nuclear issue: a senior Iranian regime official said Tuesday night that his country is not prepared to release enriched nuclear material from its control, and refused to resume talks with the United States without full surrender to its terms.

The unequivocal statements came during a meeting in Tehran between the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, and Pakistan's army chief, Asim Munir.

During the conversation, Rezaei addressed international pressure to remove enriched uranium from the country's territory, and stated categorically: "Not even one particle of enriched nuclear material will leave Iran. The material will remain a national asset intended for domestic use only."

Addressing the possibility of future dialogue with the American administration, the Iranian official made clear that contacts are completely frozen at this stage. According to him, "There will be no negotiations until the United States rebuilds trust by fulfilling the conditions Iran has set."

Tehran's firm position comes against the backdrop of reports of a mediation initiative by Pakistan and Qatar aimed at preventing a renewed confrontation between Washington and Tehran. According to a report published Tuesday in the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the two countries proposed a compromise framework that includes the transfer of interest amounting to $6 billion from frozen Iranian funds in banks in Qatar, in exchange for an Iranian step in the area of oversight of the nuclear program.

According to sources involved in the contacts, the proposal is intended to provide a partial response to the demands of both sides and prevent renewed escalation. The sources told the newspaper that the framework received American agreement and that Iran expressed early agreement in principle.

The central component from Washington's perspective is nuclear oversight: according to the report, Tehran agreed to allow a secret and non-public visit by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to nuclear sites in the country. This is a step intended to address the American demand to advance oversight of Iranian nuclear activity.

In return, the mediators offer a partial response to the Iranian demand to receive access to its frozen funds. According to the sources, the proposal concerns interest that has accumulated on a sum of $6 billion held in banks in Qatar, and not necessarily the release of the full principal.

Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump addressed the tensions with Iran on Tuesday and said a final decision must be made on which path America wants to use to defeat the Iranian regime. "We're doing very well with Iran," Trump said. "We just have to make a final decision on which way we want to win. Do we want to win the nice way, or the not-nice way."

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to bring down the Iranian regime. "We must complete the elimination of the Iranian regime, that's the main thing," Netanyahu said. "I've spoken about this with President Trump more than once, including the day before yesterday. Because as long as it's alive, even if it's beaten, wounded, battered, it's so fanatical that it will try again to do what it did a year ago."