U.S. conditions on nuclear deal violate Iran's interests - Khamenei

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The Supreme Leader said nothing about halting the talks, but said the U.S. proposal "contradicts our nation's belief in self-reliance and the principle of 'We Can'".

"Uranium enrichment is the key to our nuclear programme and the enemies have focused on the enrichment. The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100% against our interests," Khamenei said.

The U.S. proposal for a new nuclear deal was presented to Iran on Saturday by Oman, which has mediated talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

After five rounds of talks, several hard-to-bridge issues remain, including Iran's insistence on maintaining uranium enrichment on its soil and Tehran's refusal to ship abroad its entire existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium.