Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday came out swinging at the U.S.’ most recent proposal, which apparently included a call for zero uranium enrichment, to which the Iranian leader said was "100 %" against Tehran’s interests.

The issue of whether the U.S. would push a complete ban on uranium enrichment – a process that is needed to produce nuclear energy as well a warhead – came into question this week after reporting suggested a U.S. proposal submitted to Iran through Omani mediators on Saturday allowed for "low levels" of enrichment.

President Donald Trump appeared to refute this in a social media post this week, and on Wednesday, Khamanei, who did not comment directly on the specifics of the proposal, said that "In the current nuclear talks that are being mediated by Oman, the U.S.’s proposal is 100% against the spirit of ‘We can’." 

TRUMP REAFFIRMS HARD-LINE ON IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: 'WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM'

"What the U.S. is demanding is that you should have no nuclear industry at all and be dependent on them," he added. 

Included in the proposal was apparently a call for a regional coalition for enrichment that could provide Iran with the uranium it needs for civilian projects, like energy. 

Iranian authorities said this week that this idea was not a new concept, and while Tehran is not opposed to being part of such a coalition, it would not serve as an adequate substitute even though Iran relies on nuclear energy for less than 1% of its energy consumption. 

Khamanei did not say that Iran was unwilling to continue negotiating with the U.S., though Tehran has repeatedly insisted that a zero-enrichment policy is a non-starter. 

"A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless, because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants," he said.

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The Iranian leader said on Wednesday that Iran’s nuclear development has become a source of national pride and claimed, "The number of countries in the world that have achieved a complete nuclear fuel cycle is perhaps fewer than the number of fingers on a person’s two hands. 

"We're capable of producing nuclear fuel starting from the mine and all the way to the power plant," he added. 

Iran has also repeatedly claimed it does not intend to develop a nuclear weapon, though its near-weapons-grade enrichment levels and missile program have suggested otherwise and prompted immense concern among international security officials, including the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Khamanei’s comments regarding Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon were among the most fervent he has issued and again called into question Tehran’s claims that it is not looking to make itself the 10th nuclear nation. 

"You Americans possess atomic bombs and have the massive destruction of the world at your disposal," he said in a series of posts on X. "What business is it of yours whether the Iranian nation should or shouldn’t have uranium enrichment or whether it should or shouldn’t have a nuclear industry?

"Why are you interfering and trying to say whether Iran should have uranium enrichment or not? That’s none of your business," Khamanei said. 

FIRST ON FOX: A man serving in prison for leaking President Donald Trump’s and thousands of others’ confidential tax records recently asserted his Fifth Amendment right to the House Judiciary Committee and declined to testify before the panel, Fox News Digital has learned.

A public defender wrote to the Republican-led committee on behalf of Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor serving out a five-year sentence in Illinois, that because Littlejohn was appealing his sentence, he did not have to testify before Congress.

"The testimony that you seek from Mr. Littlejohn directly implicates his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination," the public defender wrote on Saturday. "Mr. Littlejohn validly exercises that Constitutional right in declining to testify."

EX-IRS CONTRACTOR WHO LEAKED TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON

The Republican-led House committee is investigating a plea deal Littlejohn reached with the Biden administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2023. Littlejohn admitted to prosecutors as part of the plea bargain that he carried out an elaborate scheme to access and disclose Trump’s tax information and the tax returns of thousands of the wealthiest U.S. citizens to the New York Times and ProPublica. 

Among those targeted were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett.

In return, Littlejohn was charged with and pleaded guilty to a single count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and received the maximum 60-month sentence for the charge.

At the time, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, questioned the wisdom of DOJ’s decision to charge Littlejohn with one charge when thousands had been affected by his actions, saying she was "perplexed" and "troubled" by the plea deal.

"The fact that he is facing one felony count, I have no words for," Reyes said during his sentencing hearing.

IRS LEAKER SOUGHT CONSULTANT ROLE WITH EXPRESS PURPOSE OF LEAKING TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS, DOJ SAYS

Many Republicans also piled onto the Biden DOJ for the perceived leniency of the plea agreement. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said during the sentencing hearing it "makes no sense" and "should be called the plea deal of the century."

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) criticized prosecutors for failing "to deter future IRS employees from leaking sensitive taxpayer information."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote a letter Tuesday to the Trump administration's DOJ, obtained by Fox News Digital, requesting all communications and other records surrounding Littlejohn’s prosecution and accusing the prior administration’s DOJ of failing to provide "any substantive" information.

Jordan said he learned from the IRS that Littlejohn's breach was far more expansive than what had been established in court.

"After President Trump took office, the IRS disclosed to the Committee that over 405,000 taxpayers were victims of Mr. Littlejohn’s leaks and that ‘89 [percent] of the taxpayers [we]re business entities,'" Jordan wrote. "While it is now clear that Mr. Littlejohn’s conduct violated the privacy of hundreds of thousands of American taxpayers, it remains unclear why the Biden-Harris Justice Department chose to allow him to plead guilty to only a single felony count."

A DOJ spokesman declined to comment on Jordan’s request.