Iran seeks uranium enrichment deal with Saudi Arabia and UAE

Iran on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, proposed the formation of a regional uranium enrichment consortium involving itself, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This is reportedly in an effort to address U.S. concerns about its ongoing nuclear activities.

The idea behind this initiative is supposedly to create a collaborative enrichment framework that would allow Iran to maintain some level of enrichment capabilities.

It will also allow her to integrate other Gulf countries as stakeholders in the process.

This move is viewed by Iran as a diplomatic concession.

They say it would involve sharing sensitive technological expertise with its Gulf neighbors and thereby giving them a role in supervising the nuclear program.

Though it is unclear whether Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi formally introduced this idea during recent nuclear talks with U.S. officials in Oman, the concept is gaining traction in Tehran.

These talks, held on a Sunday and lasting three hours, were the fourth round of discussions between Iran and the U.S.

Following the meeting, Araghchi traveled to Dubai to confer with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

This reportedly signalled that Iran may be actively seeking regional support for the consortium proposal.

The UAE, while operating a civilian nuclear facility at Barakah, does not currently enrich its own uranium.

Iran’s proposed consortium would centralize enrichment activities at Iranian facilities.

It would also abide by the 3.67% uranium enrichment limit originally established in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – a deal that the U.S. exited in 2018 under President Donald Trump.

The United States has maintained a firm stance, demanding Iran cease all uranium enrichment and dismantle its nuclear infrastructure.

However, divisions within the U.S. administration have surfaced.

Trump has praised Iran for engaging seriously in talks, although he has not made a final decision on whether some enrichment might be allowed under a new agreement.

The consortium model is not entirely new.

It was originally suggested by Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, and Frank von Hippel, a physicist at Princeton University.

In October 2023, they laid out this idea in an article for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

They proposed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE would both invest in and become shareholders in the enrichment program.

Their involvement would offer a form of oversight and assurance that Iran’s nuclear intentions remain peaceful, countering fears, particularly from Israel, that Iran is secretly pursuing a weapons program.

Allowing engineers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to work at Iranian nuclear facilities would enhance transparency.

This collaboration would reduce the world’s dependence solely on inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

It also would potentially serve as a new layer of verification and accountability.

Iran, in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, has reportedly been gradually violating the terms of the original deal.

These include enriching uranium up to 60%, significantly beyond the 3.67% threshold and nearing the 90% needed for weapons-grade material.

Iranian officials, such as Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, have expressed a willingness to accept temporary restrictions on enrichment levels and volume as part of a broader agreement.

Although the U.S. initially signaled it wanted a deal within two months of initiating talks, the complexity of the technical discussions suggests negotiations might continue into the summer.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that Iran’s current enrichment levels far exceed what is necessary for civilian energy use, reinforcing the urgency of finding a workable solution.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s Barakah nuclear plant stands as the first fully operational nuclear power station in the Arab world.

Located west of Abu Dhabi, the facility’s four reactors are now online and are expected to meet approximately 25% of the UAE’s electricity demands.

This demonstrates the UAE’s existing commitment to civil nuclear energy, which could make it a credible and stabilizing partner in the proposed consortium.

In what may supposedly have been a veiled reference to Iran’s initiative, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi referred to “useful and original ideas” that could pave the way toward a fair and mutually acceptable agreement.

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