Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced that it is out of the question for his country to abandon its uranium enrichment activities. Speaking to the press in the capital Tehran, Eslami emphasized that enrichment is an inseparable part of the nuclear process.
According to the Fars News Agency, when asked whether Iran would take a step back from its activities in this field, Eslami replied, “Absolutely not. Enrichment is an inseparable part of the nuclear process. How can you claim to have a nuclear industry without possessing the starting point of the process?”
Describing the nuclear industry as the “driving engine” of science and technology, Eslami argued that nuclear technology is also among the development priorities in the US. Eslami said, “Progress in the field of science is the right of the Iranian people, and we will not take a step back.”
The statement came following the latest message from US Vice President James David Vance regarding Iran. In his statement the previous day, Vance had said that Tehran must “meaningfully” reduce its nuclear enrichment activities to meet US demands and end the war that has been ongoing between the two countries for 7 months.
Under the nuclear deal signed in 2015, Iran had limited its uranium enrichment rate to 3.67 percent. After US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, Tehran increased its enrichment rate to up to 60 percent.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had stated during the talks held with Washington before the war that they were ready to reduce enrichment activities, but that they would not accept the US demand for “zero enrichment.” It cannot be verified whether enrichment activities have been restarted following the damage to Iran's main nuclear facilities during the war.
News Source: 12punto
