Araghchi stresses Iran’s right to uranium enrichment
Tehran sees talks as ‘tool’ to safeguard interests: Leader’s aide
Iran’s top diplomat hit back at recent remarks by the US secretary of state over the country’s uranium enrichment, defending the “right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle.”
“Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X on Saturday, citing Tehran’s long-standing membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Araghchi was responding to Marco Rubio who called on Iran to “walk away” from enrichment.
In a Thursday interview with Fox News, Rubio claimed that “the only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons.”
However, Araghchi said that there were several NPT members which enriched uranium while wholly rejecting nuclear weapons.
He had previously called Iran’s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable.”
Rubio also said Iran should allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, including by US experts. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60-percent purity.
The US and other Western countries have long accused Iran of pursuing atomic weapons – a claim Tehran denies, insisting that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot claimed that Iran was “on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons,” and said UN sanctions could be reimposed if Tehran’s actions threatened European security.
Iran rejected the comments by France – a signatory to the 2015 nuclear deal – as “simply absurd.”
Iran and the United States have engaged in nuclear talks since April 12, their highest-level contact since Washington withdrew from a landmark deal with Tehran in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as US president. A fourth round of talks initially scheduled for Saturday was postponed, mediator Oman said earlier this week, citing “logistical reasons.”
Despite the three rounds of Iran-US negotiations, the US has continued to threaten with military action and impose sanctions on Iran. Iran’s government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic was ready for any scenario.
“We are not interested in a conflict in the region at all. That is why we are interested in negotiations and dialogue”, Mohajerani said, adding that “We did not enter into negotiations to waste our time. We are definitely interested in the negotiations reaching a conclusion.”
Talks a means to guard interests
Meanwhile, Ali Larijani, as advisor to Iran’s Leader said Tehran only sees negotiations as a “tool” to secure its interests.
“Sometimes you think that the country can secure its interests through talks—then negotiations take place. When interests are not secured, there is no reason to negotiate. Negotiation is a tool,” Larijani said on Saturday.
He said the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program is not legal but “political in essence.”
Larijani further noted that Iran could not be forced into “giving in to anything” in the course of the nuclear talks with the US. “Iranians have a profound civilization and a great history, and for this reason, they are not like some countries that are rootless,” the top aide pointed out.
He warned that the Iran would not be “handicapped” to defend itself in the face of mounting enemy pressure.