There are growing fears in Iran of an Israeli strike on its nuclear sites [Getty]
Iran may pause uranium enrichment if the U.S. releases frozen Iranian funds and recognises Tehran’s right to refine uranium for civilian use under a “political deal” that could lead to a broader nuclear accord, two Iranian official sources said.
The sources, close to the negotiating team, said on Wednesday a “political understanding with the United States could be reached soon” if Washington accepted Tehran’s conditions. One of the sources said the matter “has not been discussed yet” during the talks with the United States.
The sources told Reuters that under this arrangement, Tehran would halt uranium enrichment for a year, ship part of its highly enriched stock abroad or convert it into fuel plates for civilian nuclear purposes.
A temporary pause to enrichment would be a way to overcome an impasse over clashing red lines after five rounds of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said that any new nuclear deal with Iran – to replace a failed 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers – must include a commitment to scrap enrichment, viewed as a potential pathway to developing nuclear bombs.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied such intentions, saying it wants nuclear energy only for civilian purposes, and has publicly rejected Washington’s demand to scrap enrichment as an attack on its national sovereignty.
In Washington, a U.S. official told Reuters the proposal aired by the Iranian sources had not been brought to the negotiating table to date. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this article.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denied Reuters report and said “enrichment in Iran is a non-negotiable principle.”
The Iranian sources said Tehran would not agree to dismantling of its nuclear programme or infrastructure or sealing of its nuclear installations as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Instead, they said, Trump must publicly recognise Iran’s sovereign right to enrichment as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and authorise a release of Iranian oil revenues frozen by sanctions, including $6 billion in Qatar.
Iran has not yet been able to access the $6 billion parked in a Qatar bank that was unfrozen under a U.S.-Iranian prisoner swap in 2023, during U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Tehran wants its funds to be transferred to Iran with no conditions or limitations. If that means lifting some sanctions, then it should be done too,” the second source said.
The sources said the political agreement would give the current nuclear diplomacy a greater chance to yield results by providing more time to hammer out a consensus on hard-to-bridge issues needed for a permanent treaty.
“The idea is not to reach an interim deal, it would (rather) be a political agreement to show both sides are seeking to defuse tensions,” said the second Iranian source.
Western diplomats are sceptical of chances for U.S.-Iranian reconciliation on enrichment. They warn that a temporary political agreement would face resistance from European powers unless Iran displayed a serious commitment to scaling back its nuclear activity with verification by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
Even if gaps over enrichment narrow, lifting sanctions quickly would remain difficult. The U.S. favours phasing out nuclear-related sanctions while Iran demands immediate removal of all U.S.-imposed curbs that impair its oil-based economy.
Asked whether critical U.S. sanctions, reimposed since 2018 when Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 pact, could be rescinded during an enrichment pause, the first source said: “There have been discussions over how to lift the sanctions during the five rounds of talks.”
Dozens of Iranian institutions vital to Iran’s economy, including its central bank and national oil company, have been sanctioned since 2018 for, according to Washington, “supporting terrorism or weapons proliferation”.
Iran’s clerical establishment is grappling with mounting crises – energy and water shortages, a plunge in the value of its currency, losses among regional militia proxies in wars with Israel, and growing fears of an Israeli strike on its nuclear sites – all exacerbated by Trump’s hardline stance.
Trump’s revival of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran since he re-entered the White House in January has included tightened sanctions and threats to bomb Iran if current negotiations yield no deal.
Iranian officials told Reuters last week that Tehran’s leadership “has no better option” than a new deal to avert economic chaos at home that could jeopardise clerical rule.
Nationwide protests over social repression and economic hardship in recent years met with harsh crackdowns but exposed the Islamic Republic’s vulnerability to public discontent and drew more Western sanctions over human rights violations.
(Reuters Exclusive)
