Iran's uranium enrichment not open for negotiation: FM Araghchi
Iran will not negotiate over its uranium enrichment program in indirect talks with the United States, and will not forego this right under any conditions, said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“What we are witnessing now are completely unreasonable and illogical positions by the Americans, which have become public in the past few days. These positions were met with an immediate response from Iran,” Araghchi said in remarks on Tuesday.
The minister said Iran entered into talks to “secure the rights of the Iranian people, and under no circumstances will we compromise on these rights.”
“The subject of enrichment is not, in our view, open for negotiation at all,” he stressed.
“I have provided a clear response over the past few days, and today the Leader completely clarified our stance,” Araghchi said, referring to earlier remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei that it is “utterly wrong” for the US to insist on Iran completely stopping its peaceful uranium enrichment activities.
“To say that ‘we will not allow Iran to enrich uranium’ is a huge mistake,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated on Tuesday.
“No one is waiting for permission from anyone. The Islamic Republic has its own policies, its own methods, and it pursues its own agenda,” the Leader underlined, while addressing a ceremony commemorating the first martyrdom anniversary of President Ebrahim Raeisi.
Iran and the US have held four rounds of indirect talks mediated by Oman so far
Iranian officials have criticized “contradictory” statements by US officials, along with the continued imposition of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry and nuclear program, despite the ongoing talks.
US officials have said Iran has to stop all enrichment activities over the past days.
On May 18, Araghchi said Iran has been observing “dissonance … between what our US interlocutors say in public and in private.”
On May 16, Iran held parallel talks with Britain, France, and Germany, all parties to the 2015 deal.
Araghchi said Iran was willing to “begin a new chapter” with Europe and urged it to play a role in the nuclear negotiations.
