US and Iran clash over uranium enrichment as nuclear talks resume in Rome

The U.S. and Iran resumed nuclear negotiations on Friday in Rome as differences over demands have spilled over into the public sphere, making the red lines for both parties increasingly clear. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week criticized Washington’s position that has called for an apparent ban on all uranium enrichment in Iran and suggested a deal may not be possible.

The White House did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions about whether it is in fact calling for a ban on uranium enrichment for civil needs like nuclear energy, but on Friday Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters that ‘This round of talks is especially sensitive.’

According to Iranian media outlets, Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left the negotiations and said, ‘I hope that in the next one or two meetings we can reach solutions that will allow the negotiations to progress. 

‘With Oman’s solutions to remove obstacles, there is a possibility of progress,’ though he did not expand on what the hiccups were or what Oman’s solutions may have been.

Araghchi, who was set to negotiate largely indirectly with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff through Omani mediators, made Tehran’s position on Washington’s apparent demands clear in a post to X early on Friday. 

‘Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science,’ he said. ‘Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal. 

‘Time to decide,’ he added.

Iran has claimed it has no intention of building a nuclear weapon. But steps Tehran has taken, like bolstering its missile program, which could give it the technology to launch a nuclear warhead, and stockpiling enough near-weapons-grade enriched uranium to possess five nuclear weapons, have experts worried, including the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency. 

While uranium enrichment for nuclear energy is a power source many countries, including the U.S., rely on for their energy needs, Iran’s nuclear energy amounts to less than 1% of its energy consumption. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the U.S. is attempting to form a deal that would enable Iran to have a civil nuclear energy program that does not include enriched uranium, though he admitted that this ‘will not be easy’.

‘Washington’s insistence on zero enrichment, I think, is the only sober, sane, non-proliferation approach you can take [with] the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has not stopped enriching uranium at various levels since April 2006 when this entire crisis really was kicked off, Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital.

‘Iran has more to lose by pushing away from the table,’ he continued. ‘Iran is engaging in 2025 for a very different reason than 2013 and 2015. It’s trying to blunt maximum pressure. It’s trying to prevent an Israeli military attack, and it’s trying to prevent European snap-back [sanctions]. 

‘This is why Iran is engaging today, and the Trump administration needs to be cognizant that, because of that, it does have the leverage in these negotiations and can demand more,’ Ben Taleblu urged.