US pulled proposal allowing enrichment, senior Iran envoy tells Der Spiegel

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran would not accept any deal that denies its right to enrich uranium, accusing the United States of shifting positions and undermining talks.

“The Americans must decide: do they want a deal or confrontation? They can’t have both,” Takht-Ravanchi told Der Spiegel in an interview published Friday.

He said US envoy Steve Witkoff initially floated a compromise on 3.67% enrichment but later insisted on zero enrichment, which Takht-Ravanchi called unacceptable and outside the scope of negotiations.

“We cannot rely on foreign fuel supplies. Past experience shows we must be self-sufficient,” he said.

Takht-Ravanchi defended Iran’s higher-level enrichment as peaceful and necessary for research and medicine. “There are uses for 60% enrichment in scientific and medical fields. As long as it’s peaceful, there is no issue.”