Mohammad Eslami says nuclear enrichment is essential, as all nuclear processes require nuclear fuel
Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), speaks at the opening of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria. PHOTO: REUTERS
TEHRAN:
Iran’s atomic energy chief, Mohammad Eslami, said no country can deprive the Islamic Republic of its right to nuclear enrichment, after US President Donald Trump again hinted at military action following talks in Geneva.
“The basis of the nuclear industry is enrichment. Whatever you want to do in the nuclear process, you need nuclear fuel,” said Eslami, according to a video published by Etemad daily on Thursday.
“Iran’s nuclear programme is proceeding according to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and no country can deprive Iran of the right to peacefully benefit from this technology,” he added.
The comments follow the second round of Oman-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington in Geneva on Tuesday.
Read: Iran says US ‘more realistic’ on nuclear issue, as Guards begin drills in Hormuz Strait
The two countries had held an initial round of discussions on February 6 in Oman, the first since previous talks collapsed during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. The United States joined the war alongside Israel, striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social account.
He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago’s Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, “to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime”.
Washington has repeatedly called for zero enrichment, but has also sought to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region — issues which Israel has pushed to include in the talks.
Western countries accuse the Islamic Republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
Read more: Oil prices rise as US sends armada to Iran, slaps new sanctions
Tehran denies having such military ambitions and insists on its right to this technology for civilian purposes.
Trump, who has ratcheted up pressure on Iran to reach an agreement, has deployed a significant naval force to the region, which he has described as an “armada”.
After sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and escort battleships to the Gulf in January, he recently indicated that a second aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, would depart “very soon” for the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Iranian naval forces this week conducted military drills in the Gulf and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, the Iranian and Russian navies were conducting joint drills in the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean on Thursday.
