Waltz: the U.S. offered to sell Iran uranium for a civilian nuclear program — Tehran refused

As part of earlier negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran, the United States offered Tehran to sell it uranium for use in a civilian nuclear program, but Iran refused — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz revealed on Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ as Al Jazeera reports.

Waltz said: “Heck, even our negotiators offered to sell them uranium.” The deal, he said, would have been similar to that of the United Arab Emirates, which has “a peaceful program, right there in the neighborhood, and they abide by international law and inspection regimes.” He added that President Donald Trump’s administration was open to letting Iran keep a civilian nuclear program if it accepted obligations under international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

According to Waltz, there were “a number of ways” Trump was prepared to handle Iran to guarantee Tehran would have no access to highly enriched uranium — including the possibility of Iran handing over the enriched material it currently holds. Enriched uranium remains the central point of dispute: Iran currently has more than 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, while enrichment of around 90 percent is considered suitable for nuclear weapons production.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes — electricity generation, medicine and scientific research — while talks have stalled precisely over what should be done with the uranium Iran currently holds and how to guarantee future supplies are not diverted to weapons. The 2015 agreement (JCPOA) had limited Iranian enrichment to 3.67 percent under international monitoring, before the Trump administration withdrew from it in 2018.

The revelation comes at a critical moment: just days earlier Trump rejected the Iranian proposal for a seven-day ceasefire that envisioned reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran insists it is awaiting Washington’s formal response through intermediaries and warns it is ready for the ‘final war’ if strikes resume.