Pezeshkian: Iran ready to resolve nuclear ‘ambiguities’ with IAEA
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in his meeting with the visiting head of the UN nuclear agency that his country is willing to resolve “ambiguities and doubts” about its nuclear program.
“As we have repeatedly demonstrated our goodwill in the past, we express our readiness to cooperate and align with this international body to resolve any ambiguities and allegations concerning the peaceful nature of our nuclear activities,” Pezeshkian said in a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi in Tehran on Thursday.
The president stressed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, citing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s religious decree which prohibits the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.
Pezeshkian also said Iran does not seek war but will strongly respond to any aggression.
Grossi, for his part, praised Pezeshkian’s peace-oriented and consensus-driven approach during this meeting, expressing gratitude for the diligent cooperation of the officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the IAEA.
He said in Tehran on Thursday that achieving “results” in talks with Iran is vital to avoid a war, AFP reported. “It is indispensable to get, at this point in time, to some concrete, tangible, visible results that will indicate that this joint work is improving the situation... and in a general sense is moving us away from conflict and ultimately war,” Grossi told a joint news conference with Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami.
The UN nuclear chief toured two Iranian uranium enrichment plants that have been the focus of Western concern on Friday. He visited the Natanz and Fordo enrichment plants in central Iran, IRNA reported.
Grossi was accompanied by the AEOI spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, and Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs. In 2015, Iran proved the peaceful nature of its nuclear program to the world by signing the JCPOA with six world powers. However, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.
In 2019, Iran started to roll back the limits it had accepted under the JCPOA after the other parties failed to live up to their commitments.