Mojtaba Orders Opponents to Resist All US Moves to Remove Enriched Uranium From Iran

Tehran, May 21, 2026 — Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has instructed that the country’s enriched uranium will not be shipped abroad. The instruction was disclosed by two senior Iranian officials cited by Reuters and Independent on Thursday, May 21, 2026. ‘The instruction of the Supreme Leader, and the consensus within the leadership, is that stockpiles of enriched uranium must not leave the country,’ one senior Iranian official said. The officials said the leadership believes exporting enriched uranium would leave Iran more vulnerable to attacks by the United States and Israel. According to IAEA data, Iran currently possesses 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, at the time the US and Israel launched attacks on nuclear facilities in June 2025. Meanwhile, several Israeli officials told Reuters that US President Donald Trump assured Tel Aviv that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile needed to build a nuclear weapon would be shipped out of Iran, and any future agreement would have to include a clause on the uranium. Iran, though enriched to 60 percent, has repeatedly denied any intention to develop a nuclear bomb. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was considering continuing the war until enriched uranium is removed from Iran, Tehran ends its proxy militias and removes Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities. Two Iranian sources said there is deep suspicion within Iran that the current ceasefire is a Washington tactic to create a security crisis before resuming attacks. Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) that ‘clear and hidden moves by the enemy’ indicate that America is preparing a new attack.