Tehran: Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday criticised an initial proposal from the United States in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea of agreement with Washington.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the US proposal as “100 per cent against the idea of ‘we can’,” borrowing from an Iranian government slogan.

He also insisted that Tehran needed to keep its ability to enrich uranium.

“If we had 100 nuclear power plants while not having enrichment, they are not usable for us,” Khamenei said. “If we do not have enrichment, then we should extend our hand (begging) to the US.”

However, some nuclear power nations get uranium from outside suppliers.

Details of the American proposal remain unclear after five rounds of talks between Iran and the US.

A report by the news website Axios outlined details of the American proposal, the details of which a US official separately confirmed, include a possible nuclear consortium enriching uranium for Iran and surrounding nations. Whether Iran would have to entirely give up its enrichment programme remains unclear, as Axios reported that Iran would be able to enrich uranium up to 3 per cent purity for some time.

Reaching a deal is one of the several diplomatic priorities being juggled by US President Donald Trump and his trusted friend and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. An accord could see the United States lift some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for it drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium.

But a failure to get a deal could see tensions further spike in a Middle East on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s economy, long ailing, could enter a free fall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home. Israel or the US might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. And Tehran may decide to fully end its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog and rush toward a bomb.