Iran will not abandon its nuclear program and in particular the enrichment of uranium despite the “serious damage” caused to its facilities by American bombing, Iranian Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said on Monday.
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“He was arrested because, yes, the damage is serious and serious. But it is obvious that we cannot give up enrichment, because it is an achievement of our own scientists, “he said in the Bret Baier program on the American channel Fox News.
“And now, more than that is a question of national pride,” he added, stressing that any future Iranian nuclear agreement will have to contain the right to enrichment.
Asked to know if enriched uranium could have been saved despite the bombings, the minister replied that he had “detailed information” on this, but that the Iranian atomic agency strives to “assess what exactly happened with our nuclear equipment, our enriched equipment”.
In support of the 12-day offensive from Israel against Iran, the United States has bombed the Uranium enrichment of Fordo, south of Tehran, and nuclear installations in Ispahan and Natanz (center) on June 22.
President Donald Trump reaffirmed on Saturday that the American strikes had “completely destroyed” the three targeted and threatened sites to bomb Iran again if it resumed its enrichment program.
The Iranian Minister’s words are intervening while Iran will make new discussions on its nuclear program with Germany, France and the United Kingdom on Friday in Istanbul.
He said he was, about negotiations, “open” to indirect discussions with Washington, the two countries having had several rounds of discussions before the American strikes.
“We are open to discussions, but not direct at the moment,” he said on Fox News, reporting that Iran was ready to “take confidence measures to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful” in exchange for a lifting of American sanctions.
The state of the Iranian nuclear program after the American bombings is the subject of many questions.
The Iranian minister also said that the missile program continued.
“We have a good number of missiles to defend us,” he said. Israeli strikes had targeted missile sites.
Finally, asked about the state of health of the Iranian supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he replied: “I met him today. It is in very good shape and in very good health ”.
