Iran open to nuclear inspections but never stands ‘bullying’: Pezeshkian
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Tehran remains open to inspections of its nuclear facilities but it “will never put up with bullying and coercion.”
"We do not accept others making decisions for the future and destiny of our nation; the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been open to hearing logical arguments, but it will never put up with bullying and coercion,” Pezeshkian said in a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu in Tehran.
Pezeshkian’s remarks came amid nuclear talks between Iran and the US, which have faced an obstacle over the US demand for Iran to stop enriching uranium under any new deal.
The talks began on April 12 and the two countries have held five rounds of negotiations mediated by Oman to resolve a decades-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
In recent weeks, Tehran and Washington have clashed over the issue of uranium enrichment, which Washington says must be brought to zero. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian purposes and views its enrichment industry as a red line.
On May 31, Iran said it had received "elements" of the US proposal through Omani mediators, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed.
The Iranian president said on Saturday that depriving nations of knowledge, technology, and scientific achievements is “unacceptable and intolerable.”
He said that Iran has repeatedly stated clearly — and demonstrated in practice —that it has never sought the production of nuclear weapons.
Iran’s nuclear activities are entirely transparent and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed it.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump asserted that Iran will not be allowed to enrich uranium, despite reports that the deal Washington has proposed would allow Tehran to do so at low levels for a temporary period.
“They won’t be enriching. If they enrich, then we’re going to have to do it the other way,” Trump told reporters, hinting at a military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites if a deal does not pan out, while reiterating that a diplomatic agreement is his preferred option.
Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that uranium enrichment is the key to the country’s peaceful nuclear program, and that the United States "cannot have a say" on the issue.
"If we have 100 nuclear power plants but don't have enrichment, they will be of no use to us," because "nuclear power plants need fuel" to operate, he said.