One-sided, overreaching approach in nuclear talks will backfire on US
By Ahmad Bigdeli
Iranian MP
The fifth round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program was held in Rome on Friday. While both sides once again talked up the meeting as “constructive” and “moving forward,” reports suggest there are still sticking points over uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.
Judging by recent interviews given by US officials to the media, it appears that Washington refuses to budge on its on its opposition to enrichment in Iran and keeps pushing for the dismantling of Iran’s enrichment capabilities.
This is despite repeated statements by Iranian officials and negotiators that “Iran reserves the right to enrich uranium on its own territory,” a right enshrined in international treaties that spell out Iran’s entitlement to peaceful nuclear activities and enrichment.
Iran, for its part, has consistently made clear it can guarantee the other side that do not veer toward weaponization. As officials have stated time and again, “nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s security and defense doctrine.”
Furthermore, the Leader has, in both fatwas and public statements, branded the production and use of weapons of mass destruction as a threat to humanity and “forbidden,” declaring unequivocally that the Islamic Republic does not believe in, nor seek, nuclear arms.
At the heart of the matter lies this principle: uranium enrichment—up to a certain level—is a right that every nation is entitled to. The world today is a far cry from the fossil-fuel-driven era of the past.
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