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.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that 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.

Iran’s supreme leader has criticized an initial proposal from the United States in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea