“Had we sought to give up enrichment on our own soil, there would have been no need to go under severe and oppressive US sanctions in the past decades,” Aref said in a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday morning.
“The statements made by the American officials are contradictory because in indirect negotiations they talk about the issue of enrichment in a different way than outside the negotiating room under the influence of the media and the atmosphere they create to appease the Zionist regime,” the first vice president said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is following the same path as pre-planned in the indirect negotiations. The red line drawn by the Islamic Republic of Iran is enrichment on Iranian soil. We are not seeking nuclear weapons, but we will utilize the country’s entire nuclear capacity, like other technologies, for development and progress purposes,” he added.
Tehran and Washington have already held four rounds of indirect negotiations hosted and facilitated by Oman, with the negotiating sides describing the talks “constructive” so far.
KI
