DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran’s supreme leader has issued a directive that the country’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources have said, hardening Tehran’s stance on one of the main US demands at peace talks.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s order could further frustrate US President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Israeli officials have told Reuters that Trump has assured Israel that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, will be sent out of Iran and that any peace deal must include a clause on this.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not consider the war over until enriched uranium is removed from Iran, Tehran ends its support for proxy terror groups, and its ballistic missile capabilities are eliminated.
“The Supreme Leader’s directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country,” said one of the two Iranian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Iran’s top officials, the sources said, believe that sending the material abroad would leave the country more vulnerable to future attacks by the United States and Israel. Khamenei officially has the last say on the most important state matters, but he is believed to be increasingly sidelined, staying out of sight after he reportedly suffered considerable injuries in a US-Israeli strike earlier this year.
The White House and Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Illustrative: A person involved with security at the Uranium Conversion Facility just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran, on March 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
A shaky ceasefire is in place in the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, after which Iran fired at Gulf states hosting US military bases and fighting broke out between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But there has been no big breakthrough in peace efforts, with a US blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, complicating negotiations mediated by Pakistan.
The two senior Iranian sources said there was deep suspicion in Iran that the pause in hostilities was a tactical deception by Washington to create a sense of security before it renews airstrikes.
Iran’s top peace negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Wednesday that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.
Trump said on Wednesday the US was ready to proceed with further attacks on Tehran if Iran did not agree to a peace deal, but suggested Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers.”
The two sides have started to narrow some gaps, the sources said, but deeper splits remain over Tehran’s nuclear program — including the fate of its enriched uranium stockpiles and Tehran’s demand for recognition of its right to enrichment.
A Shia Muslim cleric waves while riding as a groom with his bride in a military jeep as they arrive for a public mass wedding ceremony, part of the “Janfada” (“Sacrifice for Iran”) government campaign, at Imam Hossein Square in Tehran on May 18, 2026. (AFP)
Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran’s priority is to secure a permanent end to the war and credible guarantees that the US and Israel will not launch further attacks.
Only after such assurances are in place, they said, would Iran be prepared to engage in detailed negotiations over its nuclear program.
Tehran has long denied seeking a nuclear bomb, but it has enriched uranium to levels far beyond what’s needed for civilian use, while obstructing inspectors and regularly vowing to destroy the State of Israel.
Before the war, Iran signaled willingness to ship out half of its stockpile of uranium, which has been enriched to 60 percent, a short step away from weapons-grade enrichment.
But sources said that the position changed after repeated threats from Trump to strike Iran.
Israeli officials have told Reuters it is still unclear whether Trump will decide to attack and whether he would give Israel a green light to resume operations. Tehran has vowed a crushing response if attacked.
However, the source said there were “feasible formulas” to resolve the matter.
“There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” one of the Iranian sources said.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a news conference at United Nations headquarters, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% when Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. How much of that has survived is unclear.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in March that what remained of that stock was “mainly” stored in a tunnel complex in its Isfahan nuclear facility, and that his agency believed slightly more than 200 kg of it was there. The IAEA also believes some is at the sprawling nuclear complex at Natanz, where Iran had two enrichment plants.
Iran says some highly enriched uranium is needed for medical purposes and for a research reactor in Tehran that runs on relatively small amounts of uranium enriched to around 20%.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
