Released November 1, 2021
Iran reiterated on Monday that its nuclear program was peaceful, two days after the US, UK, France and Germany expressed “grave” concerns on the sidelines of a G20 meeting.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in Tehran that Western positions are “inconsistent with reality and will not produce constructive results.”
Saturday’s Western statement, a joint statement following bilateral leaders’ meetings on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Rome, followed their discussions on Iran’s offer to resume discussions on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
The deal between Iran and six world powers to find a long-term solution to the crisis through its nuclear program has been dead since former US President Donald Trump left in May 2018 and extensive sanctions were imposed.
Iran held six indirect negotiations in Vienna with the government of US President Joe Biden to return to the 2015 agreement, but talks were interrupted in June when a new ultra-conservative government took office in Tehran.
The Western statement on Saturday expressed its “determination to ensure that Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.”
Tehran has “accelerated the pace of provocative nuclear steps, such as the production of highly enriched uranium and enriched uranium metal”.
It added that “Iran does not have a credible civilian need for either measure, but both are important to nuclear weapons programs.”
Iran’s Khatibzadeh said that was not right.
“Contrary to the statement, the production of uranium metal and highly enriched uranium, as already claimed in the past, takes place for peaceful purposes and for civil purposes, also for medical care and for use as fuel in the Tehran research reactor,” said the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
Last week, Iran announced that it would resume talks with world powers in November on reviving the nuclear deal after a five-month hiatus amid mounting warnings that international patience is waning.
Biden said he was ready to rejoin the deal as long as Iran also fully resumes its nuclear activities, which it undertook in response to Trump’s sanctions.
Khatibzadeh said Iran wants Washington to take action.
“The criterion for us is the action of the other party,” he said.
“Contrary to what they say, the US administration continues to pursue a policy of maximum pressure that will lead to new sanctions or the re-imposition of sanctions that have already been lifted.”
AFP
Comments are closed.