The US will allow Iran to enrich Uranium at a low level for a predetermined amount of time as part of a nuclear deal, according to a proposal passed to Iran from the Trump administration, Axios reported on Monday.
The report could reassure advocates of a deal, given Iran’s insistence that it retain the right to enrich Uranium at some level, but is likely going to be met with fiery criticism by Israel and its allies in the US Congress.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been advocating for preemptive military strikes on Iran. Israel says the only nuclear deal it wants is akin to that which former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to in 2003, which saw the full destruction of Libya’s nuclear infrastructure.
Trump said last week that he warned Netanyahu not to launch preemptive strikes on Iran. But he also said on Friday that he wanted a deal in which “we can blow up whatever we want, but nobody getting killed”.
His proposal is a serious climbdown from that kind of talk.
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It would allow Iran to enrich uranium up to three percent within its borders to maintain a civilian nuclear programme. The figure is substantially below the 60 percent level it is currently at, according to Axios.
It is close to the 3.67 percent enrichment level the Obama administration agreed to with Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal.
What we know
The previous Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018.
If the proposal stands as reported by Axios, it would mark a major concession by the Trump administration, which stated its own red line on a deal was preventing Iran from enriching uranium.
“An enrichment programme can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That’s our red line. No enrichment,” US envoy Steve Witkoff told Breitbart News in May.
Like the Obama agreement, Iran would be restricted to enriching at the three percent threshold for a certain time period. The JCPOA imposed a 15-year time limit on Iran’s enrichment limit.
The Trump proposal leaves the time limit open for the following rounds of negotiations.
The US and Iran have held five rounds of talks so far. The negotiations have been mediated mainly by Oman, but Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have met in person.
The Trump proposal reported by Axios also appears to echo the 2015 deal in other areas.
Iran will not be allowed to build any new enrichment facilities and must “dismantle critical infrastructure for conversion and processing of uranium”, Axios reported.
That language is similar to the 2015 nuclear deal, which mandated Iran to dismantle and remove two-thirds of its centrifuges.
The Trump proposal calls for Iran to make its underground enrichment facilities “non-operational” for a period of time to be negotiated by the parties.
The 2015 deal prevented enrichment at the underground Fordow facility until 2031.
Witkoff sent the US proposal to Iran on Saturday.
Enrichment Consortium
According to Axios, it relies heavily on a “strong system for monitoring and verification” by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
One key difference between the 2015 deal and the Trump proposal is that it envisions a regional enrichment consortium including Iran. Several reports have said that Saudi Arabia and the UAE – two key US partners – could join Iran as part of the consortium.
The Gulf states vehemently opposed the 2015 nuclear deal, as they were locked in proxy struggles with Iran throughout the region. However, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have had a rapprochement with the Islamic Republic over the last several years.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said after Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May that the kingdom “fully supports” the nuclear talks.
The White House neither confirmed nor denied the Axios report. Iran has yet to comment on it.
On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference that Tehran was seeking clarification on debilitating sanctions relief as part of a deal.
“We want to guarantee that the sanctions are effectively lifted,” he said. “So far, the American side has not wanted to clarify this issue.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board published an article on Sunday saying the Trump administration had paused all new sanctions activity toward Iran.
