Iran will keep its enriched nuclear material inside the country, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei told Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Oct. 20, as Islamabad renewed efforts to mediate between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian state TV reported that Rezaei made the statement during a meeting with Munir, who was in Tehran as part of Pakistan’s renewed push to broker an agreement. Rezaei said Iran would retain the material for use at home and that U.S. talks could not move forward until Washington met Tehran’s conditions.
AFP, in a report carried by The Straits Times, said Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also told Munir that the United States had to fulfill seven conditions to regain Iran’s trust. The report cited a ceasefire across the Middle East, access to Iranian assets frozen abroad and an end to sanctions on Iran’s oil sector among Tehran’s demands. The position echoes EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of Pakistan’s mediation effort and Tehran’s seven conditions.
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began in February while Washington and Tehran were negotiating, The Straits Times reported. A memorandum agreed by Tehran and Washington in June did not last, and later indirect talks alongside the U.N. General Assembly failed to produce a breakthrough. Tehran has also rejected transferring its nuclear material abroad, while previously suggesting it could dilute the material inside Iran, the report said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a Sept. 1, 2026, report that it could not establish the current size, composition or location of Iran’s stockpile. The agency estimated 440.9 kilograms enriched up to 60% as of June 13, 2025; that figure does not verify the current inventory, as EconoTimes previously reported.
The U.S. and its allies have imposed successive sanctions on Iran over allegations that Tehran seeks nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has denied, The Straits Times reported.
