Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei has reportedly ordered that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remain inside the country, according to a report by Reuters citing two Iranian sources.
The sources said the directive prohibits exporting Iran’s stockpile of weapons-grade enriched uranium, reflecting what they described as a broader consensus within the Iranian leadership.
Meanwhile, Russian media outlet Interfax reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping the idea of transferring and storing Iranian enriched uranium in Russia.
The issue of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains one of the central disputes in negotiations aimed at ending the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
According to the Reuters report, Iranian officials believe removing the uranium from the country would leave Iran more vulnerable to future attacks by the United States and Israel.
