News Desk
TEHRAN: Recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium is essential for nuclear talks with the US to succeed, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday. American and Iranian diplomats held indirect talks in Oman on Friday, aiming to revive diplomacy amid a US naval buildup near Iran and Tehran’s warnings of a harsh response if attacked.
“Zero enrichment can never be accepted by us,” Araqchi said. “We need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside Iran while building trust that it is and will remain for peaceful purposes.” Iran and the US held five rounds of nuclear talks last year, which stalled mainly over disagreements about uranium enrichment.
In June, the US struck Iranian nuclear facilities following a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. Tehran has since claimed it halted enrichment activity, which the US views as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran maintains its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
A regional diplomat told Reuters on Friday that Tehran is open to discussing the “level and purity” of enrichment, as well as other arrangements, provided it can enrich uranium domestically and receives sanctions relief alongside military de-escalation.
Araqchi said Iran’s insistence on enrichment is “not merely technical or economic … it is rooted in a desire for independence and dignity. No one has the right to tell the Iranian nation what it should or should not have.”
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