Mojtaba Khamenei Issues Directive: Enriched Uranium Must Remain in Iran
Tehran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a fresh directive regarding Tehran’s enriched uranium supplies. In his remarks, Mojtaba stressed that highly enriched uranium, almost at weapon-grade level, should not be sent abroad.
The latest directive, reported by Reuters and Al Arabiya on Friday (22 May 2026), was conveyed by two senior Iranian sources who asked not to be named. Mojtaba’s directive reinforces Tehran’s position on one of the United States’ main demands in the Pakistan-brokered peace talks.
The order could further frustrate United States President Donald Trump and complicate negotiations to end the war that has raged since late February.
“The directive of the Supreme Leader, and the consensus within the government, is that the supply of enriched uranium must not leave the country,” said one of the two senior Iranian sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
According to the two senior officials, senior Iranian authorities believe that shipping enriched uranium abroad would make Tehran more vulnerable to future strikes by the United States and Israel.
Mojtaba, who succeeded the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as leader at the start of March, has the final say on Iran’s most important national issues.
Israeli officials say that Trump has persuaded Tel Aviv that Tehran’s highly enriched uranium, which is needed to build a nuclear weapon, will be shipped out of Iran. It was also stated that any peace deal must include a clause on that uranium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will not regard the war as over until the enriched uranium is removed from Iranian territory, and Tehran must also end its support for proxy militias and remove its ballistic missile capability.
The White House has not commented on the report. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has likewise not provided a direct response.
But Trump has vowed that the United States will obtain Iran’s enriched uranium stocks, even though Tehran insists the material will not be surrendered.
“We will obtain the highly enriched uranium; we will get it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday (21 May).
Trump also reiterated that the United States will not permit Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, estimates that Iran had around 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent when the United States and Iran bombarded Tehran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
It is not clear how much of Iran’s uranium reserves survived the bombing.