Iran's supreme leader criticizes US proposal in nuclear talks, but does not reject idea of a deal

Iran’s supreme leader has criticized an initial proposal from the United States in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea of agreement with Washington

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

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the U.S. proposal as “100% 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 U.S.”

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 U.S.