Iran is prepared to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment to prevent Britain reimposing United Nations sanctions, The Telegraph has been told.
Iranian officials said Tehran was willing to soften its hardline stance to avoid further military strikes from Israel and the United States.
Ali Larijani, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, is leading efforts to convince the clerical regime to lower uranium enrichment to 20 per cent purity, down from 60 per cent.
The current enrichment level is approaching the roughly 90 per cent purity required for nuclear weapons development, raising international concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Britain, France and Germany have threatened to reimpose crippling economic sanctions, lifted in 2015, unless the Islamic Republic begins negotiations to renew nuclear talks by the end of August 2025.
Credit: Reuters
The “snapback” clause in the 2015 nuclear deal expires in October, pressuring Europeans to act before they lose the opportunity to rein-in the regime.
Under the snapback mechanism, any party can declare Iran in violation and restore the sanctions. Once the snapback clause expires, new sanctions would need UN approval and could be blocked by China or Russia.
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action provided Iran’s economy crucial relief from nearly a decade of trade and banking restrictions in exchange for limits on its nuclear enrichment programme designed to prevent weapons development.
The potential return to 20 per cent enrichment would be a significant step back from Iran’s current capabilities but would still exceed the 3.67 per cent limit established under the 2015 deal.
A senior Iranian official told The Telegraph: “Larijani is trying to convince the system to reduce the level of enrichment to avoid another war.
“He’s concerned that without lowering it or meeting some of the West’s demands, the system will face another major challenge.”
He said Mr Larijani wanted to reduce enrichment to 20 per cent but faced opposition, primarily from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
However, the official said the regime’s leadership appeared willing to comply and re-engage with Western powers.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, reappointed the 68-year-old Mr Larijani to a position he previously held from September 2005 to October 2007.
He served as one of the Ayatollah Khamenei’s representatives on the council and led Iran’s nuclear negotiations with world powers.
During Mr Larijani’s first tenure, Iran’s nuclear case was referred by the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) to the UN Security Council, less than six months after he assumed the role.
Now, as he returns to the position, the same three European nations are prepared to refer Iran’s nuclear file back to the security council if diplomatic progress stalls.
Iranian missiles on display at a rally to mark the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 – Saman/AFP via Getty
On Friday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, spoke on the phone to his French, German and British counterparts to discuss avoiding the reimposition of the UN sanctions, and agreed to meet them next week.
European concern has grown since Tehran cut off all co-operation with the IAEA following the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.
That left the international community further blinded to Iran’s programme and the status of its uranium stockpile.
After Friday’s call, a statement released on Mr Araghchi’s behalf criticised the countries’ “legal and moral qualifications” to threaten the sanctions, but insisted talks would continue.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, just as it acts authoritatively in self defence, has never abandoned the path of diplomacy and is ready for any diplomatic solution that guarantees the rights and interests of the Iranian people,” the statement said.
The internal pressure on Iran’s leadership shows there are divisions within the regime over how to engage with the West.
Khamenei, 86, faces mounting pressure from within his own ranks to choose between nuclear ambitions and regime survival.
He has made only two public appearances since Israel’s June military strikes on Iranian targets and has been notably absent from public view in recent weeks.
The Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, making one of his few public appearances in recent months, on June 4 – Anadolu via Getty
Iran’s reformist coalition has called for suspending uranium enrichment in return for lifting US sanctions, while also advocating domestic changes.
Hardliners have attacked the reformists, saying they “play on the enemy’s side”.
‘They hit us, we rebuild’
At a press conference this month, Iran’s president unravelled months of diplomacy and triggered a political crisis that exposed rifts in the country’s leadership.
“If we don’t talk, what should we do? Do you want to fight?” Mr Pezeshkian asked. “They hit us, we rebuild, and they’ll hit us again.”
The remarks sparked a backlash. IRGC officials questioned his judgment, conservative newspapers accused him of weakness, and social media lit up with calls for impeachment.
Analysts say the episode highlights how vulnerable Mr Pezeshkian has become one year into office, as hardliners increasingly view his foreign policy as naive and harmful to Iran’s interests.
The strongest rebuke came from within the security establishment. Aziz Ghazanfari, deputy political chief of the IRGC, warned that repeated verbal mistakes could endanger national security.
“Foreign policy is not a place to state every reality,” Ghazanfari wrote on the IRGC-affiliated Bassirat website. “The dangers of careless remarks by senior officials fall first on their own governments.”
Ballistic missile drills
Khamenei holds ultimate authority over Iran’s political, military and ideological matters, including foreign policy and national security. The president and parliament operate under his influence.
Meanwhile, Iran’s defence ministry has been conducting ballistic missile drills in what appears to be a demonstration of military readiness amid the diplomatic tensions.
Brig Gen Rahim Safavi, a senior advisor to Khamenei, emphasised Iran’s military posture in recent statements.
He said: “We are now in a state of war, and there is a possibility that this situation could collapse at any moment.”
Safavi added that Iranian military officials believed that “whoever wants peace must be prepared for war, and the best method of defence is attack”.
‘Iran gave away a pearl and received candy’
Mr Larijani’s current diplomatic approach contrasts with his earlier hardline stance.
In October 2003, Hassan Rouhani agreed as Iranian president to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment following visits by three European foreign ministers to Tehran. Mr Larijani, then head of state broadcasting, was critical, saying: “Iran gave away a pearl and received candy from the West.”
A political science professor at a university near Tehran said the regime was at a critical juncture, torn between keeping domestic supporters satisfied and engaging with the West.
He said: “That is difficult – they have never been able to do both at the same time, and now it’s even harder.
“Many believe that engaging with the West is equivalent to losing a preemptive strike against us.
“But the reality is they have no other option but to find a way to survive. That could mean reducing enrichment levels, though perhaps only as a way to buy time.
“In the past, they were trying to advance – now they are simply trying to get back to where they were before the US strikes.”
The regime’s domestic political calculations have become increasingly complex as hardline factions view any concessions to the West as capitulation, while pragmatic voices argue that continued defiance could lead to the regime’s collapse.
