Iran stresses the sovereignty of its nuclear program and refuses to release enriched materials

Today, Monday (September 9, 2026), the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman ruled out the transfer of enriched materials outside the country. Ismail Baghaei said during his weekly press conference that with regard to enriched nuclear materials, he stressed that transporting them outside the country is absolutely not on the table, and there is basically no justification for taking such a measure, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency.

Regarding nuclear cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Baghaei said that IAEA inspectors visited Iran about ten days ago to conduct periodic inspections of the Bushehr nuclear plant, explaining that the recent inspections were limited to the Bushehr nuclear plant and a limited number of facilities that had the necessary conditions to conduct the inspection.

He pointed out that other Iranian nuclear facilities were damaged, stressing that there is currently no specific protocol for inspecting the damaged facilities, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency does not currently have a mechanism or specific instructions in this regard. He added that the continuing American threats against Iranian nuclear facilities make raising the issue of inspection of the affected facilities unjustified.

Baghaei added: “If the United States responds to Iran’s demands, the region will witness positive developments within two days, and security will return to the Strait of Hormuz.” Baghaei explained that the previous Iranian proposal to reach an agreement to reopen the Strait within two days, instead of seven days in the initial proposal, is still on the table, according to what Bloomberg News Agency reported on Monday. He added: "These are not unreasonable demands, but rather they are demands that abandoning them would endanger both our interests and the security of the region."

Oil prices fell at the beginning of trading today (Monday, November 9, 2026) after US President Donald Trump said that he was unlikely to order new attacks on Iran in light of progress in the talks aimed at ending the conflict, despite both countries announcing attacks on ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz. The price of Brent crude fell 84 cents, or 0.85 percent, to $97.48 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 32 cents, or 0.35 percent, to $90.51 per barrel.

This decline reversed the slight gains made at settlement on Friday, with markets assessing the possibility of further US strikes on Iran, although Brent crude fell 17 percent last week, the largest weekly decline since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the largest in absolute terms, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group dating back to 1988. Trump had hinted at new attacks on Iran after the US midterm elections last week, but there have been no signs of a large-scale US military operation. Iran announced that it would respond by striking American and Israeli targets.