Iran supreme leader orders uranium stockpile kept in country, sources say

Iran's Supreme Leader has directed that the country's stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium must not leave Iranian soil, two Iranian sources told The Korea Times, setting up a direct confrontation with Washington over a core demand of ongoing peace negotiations.

The directive sharpens a central deadlock in peace talks: the United States and Israel have made uranium removal a non-negotiable precondition for any settlement, while Tehran argues retaining the material is essential to its national security.

Iran had previously signaled willingness to export half of its 60 percent-enriched uranium, but reversed course after President Trump publicly threatened to seize and destroy the material, according to The Korea Times. Senior officials across the country's political establishment have since coalesced behind the Supreme Leader's position.

"The Supreme Leader's directive, and the consensus within the establishment, is that the stockpile of enriched uranium should not leave the country," a senior Iranian source told The Korea Times.

Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity — far beyond civilian energy needs and approaching the 90 percent threshold required to produce a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates roughly 200 kilograms of the original 440.9-kilogram stockpile remains stored inside a tunnel complex at Isfahan's nuclear facility, The Korea Times reported.

"We will get it. We don't need it, we don't want it. We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday, according to The Korea Times. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said "President Trump has been clear about the United States' red lines and will only make a deal that puts the American people first."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not consider the war over until Iran's uranium is removed, proxy support ends and missile capabilities are eliminated, The Korea Times reported. Tehran has countered that it will not address the nuclear file in detail until it receives a permanent end to hostilities and credible guarantees against future attacks.

At least one Iranian source raised a potential middle ground. "There are solutions like diluting the stockpile under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency," the source told The Korea Times. Negotiations between the two sides have been mediated by Pakistan.

A ceasefire reached Feb. 28 remains in effect, but the uranium impasse threatens to derail any path toward a lasting agreement between Iran and the United States.