Iran says it will not hand over enriched nuclear material amid US pressure

Iran's security chief has said Tehran will not hand over any enriched uranium, rejecting a central US demand linked to ending the conflict between the two countries. Mohsen Rezaei said on Wednesday that Iran would not accept delivering its enriched nuclear material, using language that left little room for compromise. The statement adds to an already tense standoff over Iran's nuclear programme and the wider war between Tehran and Washington.

Rezaei made the comments in an interview with the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen. His remarks directly contradicted one of the main conditions the United States has set for a definitive end to the war: the removal of all nuclear material belonging to Tehran. He also said on Tuesday that there were no negotiations under way between Tehran and Washington.

The timing of the comments suggests that, despite public signals from both sides, no formal diplomatic process is currently visible. The issue is significant because enriched uranium is at the centre of long-running international concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Tehran says its programme is not intended to build a bomb, while Donald Trump has repeatedly said since the start of the war that Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

A decree from Iran's supreme leader also prohibits the removal of uranium from the country, reinforcing the position Rezaei restated this week. The dispute therefore remains both a security issue and a political test of whether either side is prepared to shift its position. Trump said on Monday that US military action against Iran did not appear necessary at the "current moment" and that he believed the conflict would end relatively soon.

He also said Gulf states did not want the fighting to resume. At the same time, he warned that if the situation changed, the United States would be fully prepared to act militarily, although he said that now seemed unlikely. Those remarks point to a narrow window in which rhetoric has softened slightly, even as the core demands remain unchanged.

The latest comments also sit against the backdrop of earlier escalation. In May, during the height of the confrontation, Tehran threatened to change its posture if it came under further attack. Rezaei was also photographed meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, underlining the wider diplomatic context around Iran's position.

Russia remains one of the external actors closely watching the crisis, given the broader regional and strategic consequences of any breakdown in talks or further military action. What remains unclear is whether the two sides are moving toward any indirect contact or whether the current exchange is mainly a public hardening of positions. There is no confirmed negotiation process at present, and neither side has indicated a concrete compromise on the uranium issue.

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