ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called a US nuclear deal proposal delivered to Iran “100 percent against” the values of the country’s 1979 revolution.

In a televised address, Khamenei heaped criticism on the American proposal and dismissed Washington’s right to limit Tehran’s nuclear enrichment program, saying, "Why are you interfering in whether Iran should have enrichment or not? You cannot have a say.”

A key stumbling point in ongoing US-Iran nuclear talks has been the issue of enrichment, which Iran has insisted will continue with or without a possible accord, despite repeated US demands that Tehran completely halt its enrichment program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in May said that there is “no room for compromise” on the issue of enrichment.

Despite US officials conveying a hardline stance on the issue, US media on Monday reported that the proposal submitted to Iranian authorities allowed scope for a limited degree of enrichment to continue over a to-be-determined period of time, contradicting Washington’s outward stance.

The Iranian supreme leader has long conveyed a public image of resistance to a possible nuclear accord with the US, citing US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw caps on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, in 2018 as an example of Washington’s unreliability.

“We sat for several years and negotiated. That very person [Trump] tore up the completed, finalized, and signed agreement and threw it off the table,” Khamenei said in March before talks began, adding, “When we know they do not act on their commitments, why should we negotiate?”

Khamenei on Wednesday spoke at an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Rohullah Khomeini, during which he lauded the uncompromising nature of post-revolution Iran in its dealings with the West, saying that Tehran’s resistance to foreign influence has preserved their ideological independence and sovereignty.