Trump says Iran issue to be solved 'one way or the other'

Iran has proposed the creation of a joint nuclear enrichment consortium with Arab countries and US involvement as an alternative to dismantling its nuclear program, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing four Iranian officials.

According to the report, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi raised the proposal during direct and indirect talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman on Sunday. The plan would allow Iran to enrich uranium at low levels and then export it to partner countries for civilian use.

The proposed agreement, described as permanent, would differ from the 2015 nuclear deal by including international oversight on-site and no sunset clause, the officials said.

The feasibility of such a regional venture remains uncertain, particularly given long-standing rivalries between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, the report said.

A US senator warned that any deal with Iran must require full dismantlement of its nuclear program, including a complete ban on uranium enrichment.

“If Iran has any centrifuges, if it enriches uranium at any level, that means it can enrich it up to weapons grade,” Tom Cotton said in an interview, calling enrichment a red line echoed by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff.

Cotton dismissed Iran’s reported proposal for a regional enrichment consortium as likely insincere, citing Tehran’s refusal to abandon enrichment as evidence of weapons intent. “They don’t really care that much about civilian nuclear power,” he said.

“It's not just Iran's enrichment and their nuclear weapons, it's their other actions as well. They have a missile program that might be able to reach the United States in just a few years. So this is not just a problem for the Middle East, and they support terrorists throughout the regions like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

He warned that decisions are imminent and that President Trump remains committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “This is coming to a head,” Cotton said.

"UAE and a couple other dozen countries around the nation, they have civilian nuclear power, and they don't enrich uranium. They buy it in ways that are safe and verifiable and can't be reprocessed into weapons. So let's see what Iran has to say about that. That's one of the things that Steve Witkoff is putting to them as a question."

He said he suspects Iran will, as in the past, try to delay and prolong negotiations to preserve its path toward a nuclear weapon. “But as President Trump said again just yesterday, we’ll never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapons program,” Cotton added.

Iran’s parliament said that the Islamic Republic faces no restrictions on nuclear research and can enrich uranium up to 93 percent based on its national needs.

“The Islamic Republic has no limitation in the field of research and development in the nuclear industry,” lawmakers wrote in a statement to IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.

“In case of any infringement on the legitimate and lawful rights of the Iranian nation in the agency’s upcoming report, and any alignment with the interests of the nation’s enemies, you will face a decisive reaction from the members of parliament,” the statement added.

Iran would approach negotiations with caution and resolve, rejecting any repeat of past concessions, said top Iranian cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi.

“Iran enters talks with prudence,” he said, adding that the country “will not tolerate such humiliation.”

The former presidential candidate and head of Islamic Revolution Document Center criticized US President Donald Trump’s billion-dollar arms agreement with Saudi Arabia, calling it “a form of plundering the region’s wealth.”

Pourmohammadi said regional nations were tied by a shared fate and said “Iran would not be indifferent to such a disgrace.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a two-hour meeting with Steve Witkoff, head of the US negotiating team on Iran, Israeli Channel 12 reported.

Details were not disclosed, but earlier, media reported that Netanyahu had been dissatisfied with President Trump’s recent stance toward the Islamic Republic and conveyed his anger to the White House.