The United States has sent its first nuclear deal proposal to Iran since negotiations began in April, a move that comes after a U.N. nuclear watchdog report indicated the Middle Eastern country significantly increased its uranium enrichment over a three-month span.
On Saturday afternoon, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged he received a U.S. proposal that was delivered by his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr al Busaidi, who has been mediating the nuclear negotiations between the two countries. Araghchi indicated that the proposal “will be appropriately responded to in line with the principles, national interests and rights of the people of Iran.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also revealed that a “detailed and acceptable” proposal was sent to Iran by Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump‘s special envoy to the Middle East, but declined to disclose any of its details.
“President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb. Special Envoy Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it. Out of respect for the ongoing deal, the administration will not comment on details of the proposal to the media,” Leavitt said in a statement.
While the Trump administration was silent on the details of the document, a New York Times report described it as merely a list of bullet points, not a full draft, citing four officials familiar with the negotiations. Specifically, it calls for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment and proposes creating a regional trust to produce nuclear power that would involve Iran, Saudi Arabia, other Arab states, and the U.S., the report noted.
The news of a U.S. nuclear deal proposal comes shortly after a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency detailed a sharp spike in uranium enrichment by Iran, which the Vienna-based agency said was of “serious concern.”
According to the Associated Press, as of mid-May, Iran has amassed over 900 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60%, which is just below the 90% needed to produce weapons. That amount was earlier estimated to be at just over 605 pounds in February.
In its report, the IAEA said Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material.”
Trump has recently been hopeful about the prospects of an Iranian nuclear deal.
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On Friday, he told reporters in the Oval Office he believes the U.S. has “a chance of making a deal.”
“They don’t want to be blown up,” Trump added. “They would rather make a deal, and I think that could happen in the not-too-distant future. That would be a great thing if we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East. That would be a very good thing.”
