Nuclear talks between Iran and the US have reached an impasse over Iran’s right to produce and stockpile low-enriched uranium. America first signalled that it was open to some enrichment before insisting that Iran must relinquish that right.

Iran opposes US demands to halt uranium enrichment, with Khamenei asserting Iran’s capability to produce nuclear fuel and its nuclear program as a matter of national pride.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was “100 percent” against Tehran’s interests, effectively rejecting a key U.S. demand in weeks of tense negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Western nations are planning to table a resolution at an IAEA meeting that will find Iran in non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years, a senior western diplomat said.

An outline by the Trump administration would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium at low levels while a broader arrangement is worked out that would block the country’s path to a nuclear weapon.

Iran has dramatically increased its stockpile of uranium needed to create nuclear weapons and has fallen short of compliance with international regulators, according to an IAEA report.