Trump says Iran "slow-walking" after negative response to U.S. nuclear deal offer

• Axios first reported the details of the U.S. proposal on Monday.
• Another round of nuclear talks between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi could take place this weekend, sources say.
• President Trump has set a two-month deadline for reaching a deal with Iran. U.S. officials said the White House started counting this deadline once the talks with Iran began on April 12. That deadline will expire in a week.

What he is saying: Khamenei stressed in his speech that Iran's investment in its nuclear program over the last several decades has made it part of a small group of countries to have mastered the nuclear fuel cycle.

• "There is one point that is a key element in the nuclear industry, and that is uranium enrichment. A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants," he said.
• "Thousands of nuclear scientists and researchers have been trained in Iran. Should we disappoint them, make them unemployed and take away their hope in our country's future? The rude, insolent U.S. leaders want this. In the current nuclear talks that are being mediated by Oman, the U.S. proposal is 100% against the spirit of 'We can,'" the Iranian supreme leader said referencing the Iranian government's slogan of self-reliance.
• "To the American side and others we say: Why are you interfering and trying to say whether Iran should have uranium enrichment or not? That's none of your business," he added.

Shortly after Khamenei's speech, Araghchi wrote on X that "there is no scenario" in which Iran gives up on its nuclear technological achievements.

• "To reiterate: No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal," he wrote.

The other side: Trump wrote on Truth Social that he discussed the nuclear talks with Iran during his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

• "Time is running out on Iran's decision pertaining to nuclear weapons, which must be made quickly! It is my opinion that Iran has been slow-walking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!", Trump wrote.
• He added that Putin agrees with him that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and noted that the Russian president suggested he could participate in the discussions with Iran in order to help get a deal.
• Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov said it was Trump that asked for Putin's help on Iran and added "Trump Believes Russia's help is necessary."

Driving the news: The U.S. proposal would allow limited low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for a to-be-determined period of time, but calls for oversight of the enrichment to transition to an international consortium.

Go deeper: Read the details of the plan