Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Tehran will not abandon its uranium enrichment.

Axar.az reports, citing Reuters, the US proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

After five round of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran’s insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran’s refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium - possible raw material for nuclear bombs.

“Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear program and the enemies have focused on the enrichment,” Khamenei said in a televised speech. The US proposal “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance and the principle of ‘We Can’,” he said.

“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have an enrichment?,” he added.