Tehran’s uranium enrichment program, which was severely damaged by US and Israeli airstrikes last month, cannot be stopped, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
In an interview that was broadcast on Monday, Araghchi told the US broadcaster Fox News, “It is now stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe, but obviously, we cannot give up our enrichment because it is an accomplishment of our own scientists, and now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” Araghchi said.
Iran and the United States are “open to talks,” according to Araghchi, who stated at the start of the interview, but that they won’t be direct talks for the time being.
I’m prepared to talk with them if they [the US] are seeking a win-win solution, he said.
The foreign minister continued, “We are ready to take any confidence-building measures necessary to demonstrate that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and will continue to be peaceful forever, and that it will never obtain nuclear weapons, and that they will also expect to lift their sanctions.”
Therefore, I urge the United States to pursue a nuclear-related negotiated resolution.
The comments made by Araghchi were the subject of a 16-minute Fox News interview that Donald Trump is a closely watched US president.
Our nuclear program has a compromise, according to the statement. We’ve already done it once. “We’re prepared to do it once more,” Araghchi said.
Tehran and Washington had been negotiating about the nuclear program earlier this year, seven years after Trump withdrawn the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Tehran signed with a number of world powers in 2015. Iran’s nuclear sites were open to comprehensive international inspection in exchange for the lifting of sanctions under the pact.
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of having a “secret nuclear program,” Trump made the decision to pull the US out of the deal.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear enrichment program is solely intended for use by people.
Iran and the US had been in talks with one another about a new deal until recently, but that agreement was voided when Israel launched surprise bombings across Iran on June 13 that targeted both military installations and nuclear sites.
Before a ceasefire began on June 24, more than 900 people died in Iran, and at least 28 died in Israel.
The US later claimed that the Iranian nuclear program had been hampered by Israeli nuclear weapons by one to two years as Israel did by attacking Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) will “soon inform” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its findings, according to Araghchi on Monday.
He claimed that any request for the IAEA to send inspectors would be “carefully considered.”
He asserted that “we have not abandoned our partnership with the agency.”
After Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ratified a law limiting cooperation with the IAEA earlier this month, IAEA inspectors fled Iran.
A June 12 board resolution accusing Tehran of breaking its nuclear obligations had harshly criticized Tehran and its leader, Rafael Grossi.
According to Iranian officials, the resolution was one of the “excuses” that Israel used as a pretext to launch its attacks, which started on June 13 and lasted for 12 days.
According to Stephane Dujarric, the UN secretary-general’s representative, the UN welcomed renewed “dialogue between the Europeans and the Iranians,” according to reports earlier on Monday.
