US took Iran’s assets through pre-revolution nuclear consortium, says nuclear chief

The Iranian daily Kayhan, overseen by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s appointee Hossein Shariatmadari, wrote on Monday that the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency goes beyond routine oversight and may serve as a political tool for Western pressure.

“One of the most important but underexamined aspects of the IAEA’s recent report is that it appears to go beyond technical or monitoring purposes,” the paper wrote.

Kayhan said the document was “crafted as a prelude to initiating the snapback mechanism by the Europeans,” referring to the process for restoring UN sanctions on Iran.

The White House last week ordered a freeze on new sanctions activity toward Iran, stalling what was once President Trump’s flagship maximum pressure campaign, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal, the directive was issued by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and relayed to top officials at the National Security Council and Treasury Department. It was later shared with the State Department and Middle East-focused personnel across the administration.

Iran sanctions now overlap with broader US foreign policy—particularly trade with China, where more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports are headed, the report said.

According to the report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued the order last week, halting measures that had been part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing "maximum pressure" campaign.

The directive was passed to senior officials at the National Security Council, the Treasury Department, and the State Department, the report said.

While the White House did not deny the sanctions pause, deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Journal: “Any new decisions with regard to sanctions will be announced by the White House or relevant agencies within the administration.”

The report said that Trump officials view the move as a temporary slowdown aimed at reviewing potential sanctions more carefully amid sensitive nuclear negotiations, and that it was overinterpreted somewhere along the chain.

Others expressed concern that key policymakers have been out of the loop and surprised by the sweeping pause.

The US proposal for a nuclear deal with Tehran is unbalanced and unrealistic, and lacks any clarity regarding sanctions relief, said Nour News, a media outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a report on Sunday.

Tehran has repeatedly insisted any proposal must preserve Iran’s rights and lead to the full removal of sanctions, Nour News added.

The US proposal which was handed over to Tehran by Oman’s foreign minister on Saturday suggested recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium in exchange for a suspension of enrichment or the creation of a regional nuclear fuel consortium.

Nour News said Iran has shown “goodwill and necessary flexibility” in five rounds of indirect talks with the United States while adhering to its own principles and guidelines.

The Islamic Republic’s main objective remains the lifting of sanctions and gaining economic benefit, the report added.

Abolfazl Zohrehvand, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said the 2003 agreement, which led to the Tehran Declaration, was a "strategic mistake" that should not be repeated.

In October 2003, Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and permit enhanced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear program and avoid referral to the United Nations Security Council.

The agreement was signed by Iran's then-Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rouhani, along with the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany at Tehran's Saadabad Palace. It temporarily averted escalation of the nuclear dispute.

However, following the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, Iran resumed uranium conversion activities at the Isfahan facility in August 2005 and enrichment at the Natanz facility in early 2006. By April 2006, Iran announced it had successfully enriched uranium to a purity level of approximately 3.5%, marking a significant advancement in its nuclear capabilities.

Zohrehvand said in an interview with Didban Iran that Tehran agreed in 2003 to suspend enrichment, signed the Saadabad agreement, and fulfilled its commitments by sealing the Natanz enrichment facility and the yellowcake production facility in Isfahan.

However, despite several rounds of negotiations, Iran’s request for reciprocal measures from the West went unmet, he added.

He said during that period, President Mohammad Khatami had tried to formally transfer a centrifuge to Tehran University to demonstrate Iran’s mastery of centrifuge technology. However, he said, then-Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi contacted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to coordinate the move, only to be told it was not permitted and that all centrifuges had to be dismantled.

Zohrehvand also noted that following a visit to Tehran, the German foreign minister went directly to Israel and announced, “We told the Iranians to dismantle their enrichment program entirely.”

According to Zohrehvand, today’s Western demands echo the same expectations as those of two decades ago.

“This same model is being repeated again,” he warned.

Zohrehvand said while a temporary suspension of enrichment in return for sanctions relief might now be acceptable, it would be naïve to believe that the United States would be satisfied with such a deal.

“If resolving the issue merely means suspending or halting enrichment, it could happen—there’s no problem with suspending enrichment for a few years in exchange for the suspension or lifting of sanctions,” Zohrehvand said.

“But believing that the Americans would be content with that is simplistic.”