State nuclear corporation Rosatom is closely monitoring the US-Iran talks, Aleksey Likhachev says

Russia stands ready to help remove Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, Aleksey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has said.

Tehran's nuclear program remains a key sticking point in talks with Washington. US President Donald Trump has demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear infrastructure and hand over its uranium, a proposal Tehran has rejected. Moscow has repeatedly offered to host the material. While Iran has signaled openness to such an idea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that the US had rejected it.

In an interview with corporate newspaper Strana Rosatom released on Saturday, Likhachev said the company remains ready to assist, stressing that beyond the technical complexity of removing the stockpile, trust is central to any deal - and that Russia can provide both.

"Only Russia has positive experience interacting with Iran. In 2015, at Iran's request, we already removed enriched uranium... We are ready to assist with this issue today as well," he said, calling it one of the most sensitive aspects of the talks.

Likhachev added that Rosatom - builder and operator and partner of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant - is closely monitoring US-Iran negotiations.

Iran is estimated to hold over 400kg of uranium enriched to 60%, just below weapons-grade levels, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Washington has demanded to "take home" Iran's uranium, impose a 20-year enrichment ban, and dismantle key sites such as Natanz and Fordow.

Tehran has rejected the proposals as excessive, offering instead to downblend its uranium under IAEA oversight and accept only a limited freeze lasting around five years. It also opposed dismantling facilities and has demanded sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, and guarantees the US will not exit any deal again, while linking a potential agreement to a broader regional ceasefire.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei earlier firmly ruled out handing over the stockpile to Washington, calling it "as sacred as Iranian soil." Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh on Saturday reiterated Tehran's position, insisting Tehran is not ready to hold renewed talks with Washington due to its "maximalist" demands over enriched uranium.

"I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to the US," Khatibzadeh told AP on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye. "This is a non-starter, and I can assure you that while we are ready to address any concerns that we do have, we're not going to accept things that are non-starters."

(RT.com)