Iran’s FM says not to accept zero uranium enrichment

Tehran: Iran will not accept any agreement that would lead to zero uranium enrichment in the country as it is considered a “betrayal,” Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said.

“We will in no way accept zero (uranium) enrichment as the issue has turned into (a matter of) national glory and pride,” he said in an interview with Iran’s Khabar Online news agency published on Wednesday (local time), adding the country has paid numerous costs and made many sacrifices to retain its uranium enrichment.

Commenting on Iran’s interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Araghchi said the country has cooperated with the agency only in relation to those Iranian nuclear facilities that were not bombed by Israel and the United States in June, reports Xinhua news agency.

Over the past months, the United States, joined by some European states, has called on Iran to cease uranium enrichment on its soil. Tehran has repeatedly rejected the demand, stressing its right to uranium enrichment is non-negotiable.

Iran has suspended cooperation with the IAEA since June under a parliamentary law, citing the agency’s failure to condemn the Israeli and US attacks on its nuclear sites and concerns about the safety of its facilities and scientists.

Additionally, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has rejected a recent claim by US President Donald Trump that Tehran and Washington were holding nuclear talks.

He made the remarks in an address to reporters in Tehran on Wednesday (local time), one day after US President Donald Trump said the United States was talking to Iran and that Tehran wanted “very badly” to make a deal.

In a Tuesday meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, Trump said, “We’re talking to them, and we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran.”

Baghaei stressed, “No negotiation process currently exists between Iran and the United States.”

He pointed to the US track record of failing to honour its promises and putting forward “excessive demands,” reiterating that there was no logical justification for holding talks with a side that did not see negotiation as a two-way process, took pride in its “wrongful action of military aggression” against Iran and the Iranian people, reports Xinhua news agency.

Regarding a message from Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Saudi crown prince prior to his US visit, Baghaei said it was purely bilateral. The message expressed Iran’s gratitude for the services provided to Iranian pilgrims during last year’s Hajj and emphasised the need for continued coordination for this year’s pilgrimage.

IANS