Iran's foreign minister said Monday that Tehran is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program.
Answering a question from an Associated Press journalist visiting Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered the most direct response yet from the Iranian government regarding its nuclear program following Israel and the United States' bombing of its enrichment sites in June during a 12-day war.
"There is no undeclared nuclear enrichment in Iran. All of our facilities are under the safeguards and monitoring" of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Araghchi said. "There is no enrichment right now because our facilities — our enrichment facilities — have been attacked."
Iran says it is threatened over accessing bombed sites
Asked what it would take for Iran to continue negotiations with the US and others, Araghchi said Iran's message on its nuclear program remains "clear".
"Iran's right for enrichment, for peaceful use of nuclear technology, including enrichment, is undeniable," the foreign minister continued. "We have this right, and we continue to exercise that, and we hope that the international community, including the United States, recognise our rights and understand that this is an inalienable right of Iran. And we would never give up our rights."
Iran's government issued a three-day visa for the AP reporter to attend a summit alongside journalists from major British outlets and other media.
Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, also attended the summit and told the gathering that Tehran had been threatened over potentially accessing the bombed enrichment sites. Satellite pictures analysed by the AP since the attack show that Iran has not done any major work at the sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
"Our security situation hasn't yet changed. If you watch the news, you see that every day we are being threatened with another attack," Eslami said. "Every day we are told if you touch anything, you’ll be attacked."
Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels — after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Tehran long has maintained its atomic program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA say Iran had an organised nuclear weapons program until 2003.
European nations also pushed through a measure to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran over the nuclear program in September.
The IAEA's Board of Governors is set to meet this week and could vote on a new resolution targeting Iran over its failure to cooperate fully with the agency.
But Araghchi left open the possibility of further negotiations with the US should Washington's demands change.
He told journalists at the summit that the US administration's approach does not suggest they are ready for "equal, fair negotiations to reach mutual interests".
"What we have seen from the Americans so far has actually been an effort to dictate their demands, which are maximalist and excessive. We see no chance for dialogue in the face of such demands."
Iran summit decries 'aggression'
Iran's Institute for Political and International Studies, affiliated with the country’s Foreign Ministry, hosted the summit. Titled "International Law Under Assault: Aggression and Self-Defence", the conference included papers by Iranian political analysts offering Tehran's view of the 12-day war in June, many seizing on comments from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praising Israel for having done the "dirty work" in launching its attack.
"Iran's defensive response was remarkable, inspiring, historic and above all, pure," wrote Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour, an international relations professor. "How can one possibly compare Israel's dirty deeds to the noble and clean actions of the Iranian nation?"
Images of children killed by Israel during the war lined the walkway outside the summit, held inside the Martyr General Qassem Soleimani Building, named for the Revolutionary Guard expeditionary leader killed by a US drone strike in 2020.
But Iran finds itself in a difficult moment after the war. Israel decimated the country’s air defence systems, potentially leaving the door open to further airstrikes as tensions remain high over the nuclear program.
Meanwhile, economic pressures and societal change continue to challenge Iran's Shiite theocracy, which so far has held off on making decisions about whether to enforce its mandatory hijab laws or raise the price of government-subsidised gasoline, both of which have sparked nationwide protests in the past.
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