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 of agreement with Washington.

Iran's stance directly clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump 's position that Iran must halt all enrichment amid negotiations marked by uncertainty, despite having reached their most significant step since they began in April with a U.S. offer being delivered to Tehran last week.

By Francois Murphy and John Irish VIENNA (Reuters) -U.N. inspectors monitoring Iran's Fordow nuclear site confronted a major gap in their knowledge last year as they watched trucks carrying advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges roll into the facility dug into a mountain south of Tehran.