Iran Refuses to Surrender Enriched Uranium as Diplomacy Intensifies Amid War Fears

The Middle East has seen a burst of intense diplomatic activity in recent days, raising hopes for a breakthrough to end the war the US and Israel are waging against Iran. Tehran, however, is holding firm on its contested nuclear program, while military signals suggest the threat of fresh conflict remains real.

A rush of meetings

On Wednesday, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir was in Tehran to discuss the war and recent tensions in Yemen. The trip comes amid fears of a new flare-up of conflict in the region.

Earlier, on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Tehran after attending a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states the day before. There were also indications that other Arab officials had traveled to Tehran.

According to sources, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Israeli security officials earlier in the week. Those meetings, however, appeared to do little to reduce the prospects of a new war.

Hard line on nuclear issue

Speaking after his meeting with Munir, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, declared: "Not one gram of enriched uranium will leave Iran." He did not rule out diluting the highly enriched stockpile inside the country under inspectors' supervision — an option Iran has proposed before.

Iranian authorities present the decades-old program as a sovereign right and an achievement secured despite airstrikes, sabotage and assassinations. Rezaei on Tuesday called it a "national asset."

Iran also uses low-enriched uranium for civilian purposes such as producing radiopharmaceuticals and generating power at the Bushehr plant with Russian cooperation.

Iranian officials argue that abandoning the nuclear program under military pressure would amount to surrender, with no guarantee the country would not be attacked again.

Since the war began, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed his desire to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. Yet Vice President JD Vance suggested earlier this month that a "meaningful" reduction in enrichment capacity could meet Washington's demands.

The nuclear file and inspections

Before Israeli and US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated Tehran held 440 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent. A nuclear bomb requires enrichment above 90 percent.

The attacks, along with further US and Israeli airstrikes on nuclear sites in 2026, caused severe damage to Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Because the IAEA cannot inspect key facilities, the size, condition and current location of most of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile remain unverified.

Tehran has barred the IAEA from inspecting its nuclear facilities since the war began, accusing the agency of advancing Western interests by passing resolutions and referring its nuclear file to the UN Security Council.

Iranian officials insist they are not pursuing a nuclear bomb. But senior figures such as Rezaei have openly questioned whether it makes sense to remain a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if Iran's nuclear facilities and other infrastructure continue to be attacked.

Tehran's conditions

Speaking at a conference for Iranian exporters in Tehran on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned the country faces the risk of further attacks and expanded economic sanctions. "The reality is that the country is genuinely in a state of war and the war continues. We have not reached conditions for peace and are far from it, so all decisions must be made under wartime conditions," he said.

Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told Munir that Iran has "nothing new" to say to Washington and wants the conditions proposed in New York last month implemented to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.

Mediators have not disclosed details of the proposals put to Tehran this week, but are said to have been told that the US needs to build trust by accepting Iran's conditions. These include returning to the June memorandum of understanding and recognizing the Iran-Oman arrangement for temporary transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Beyond a commitment to immediately negotiate a broader deal covering Iran's nuclear issue, the memorandum also includes lifting the US naval blockade of southern Iranian ports, exemptions from oil sanctions, the release of Iranian assets and an end to military operations in Lebanon and other regional flashpoints.

Prospects for talks and military risk

Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior expert and deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said it is clear Tehran will not give up its enriched uranium without guarantees of sanctions relief.

"The Iranians have been very clear, and I see no evidence that has changed, that they are willing to negotiate over the fate of the highly enriched uranium or over access for international inspectors, but that must be tied directly to a very clear implementation protocol on US sanctions relief," she told Al Jazeera. "Right now we are very far from that kind of negotiation."

According to US media citing unnamed officials, the Pentagon was on Tuesday moving the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and a Marine unit to the Middle East. The move would give President Trump more strike options after the US midterm elections on November 3.

In recent weeks, Trump and officials have discussed a range of military options, including striking Iran's Pickaxe Mountain to degrade the nuclear facilities inside and dropping the "mother of all bombs" on nuclear and energy sites. They have also floated the idea of seizing Iran's southern islands on the Strait of Hormuz and assassinating more Iranian officials.

Iran's state broadcaster Press TV, citing an unnamed security official, said on Wednesday that policymakers in Tehran had opted for an "unlimited and unrestrained" course if there are further US and Israeli attacks or assassinations.

Geranmayeh noted that Tehran has also backed its Houthi allies in Yemen in advances along the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and has even weighed preemptive strikes to pressure the US ahead of the elections.

"One thing we should watch is Israel and the US combining forces in military strikes after Israel's elections and the US midterms," she said, after Trump publicly backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election bid.