Iran’s top diplomat is insisting that Tehran will never stop enriching uranium, further underlining the Islamic Republic’s red line in negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

“They say, ‘We won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium.’ That’s way out of line,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a memorial for late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last year. “No one in Iran is waiting for their permission. The Islamic Republic has its own policies and direction — and it will stick to them.”