Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Photo source: Kommersant Photo Agency / ddp USA / Profimedia
Iran will not give up uranium enrichment, a subject of conflict with the US, despite repeated threats from US President Donald Trump, the head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, said on Sunday, two days after negotiations with Washington on its nuclear program, reports AFP.
“Iran has paid a very high price for its peaceful nuclear program and uranium enrichment,” Araghchi emphasized during a forum in Tehran, writes Agerpres.
“Why do we insist so much on (uranium) enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate to us what to do,” insisted the diplomat, who discussed Friday, in Oman, with the American emissary Steve Witkoff.
The US military deployment in the Gulf “doesn't scare us”, the Iranian foreign minister also said, a day after US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf region.
“We are a people of diplomacy, we are also a people of war, but that does not mean we seek war,” Araghchi added during the forum in Tehran.
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention in Iran, first in response to the bloody repression of the protest movement by the regime in January, then because of Tehran's nuclear program. In this context, the United States has deployed a significant military presence in the Gulf region, where the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is stationed.
On Sunday, Iran's foreign minister questioned the US's “seriousness” in continuing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
“The imposition of new sanctions (against Iran) and some military actions raise doubts about the seriousness and openness of the other side in conducting real negotiations,” Abbas Araghchi said, stressing that his country “will evaluate all signals and decide on the continuation of negotiations.”
In the event of a military attack against it, Iran has warned that it would target US bases in the region and could block the Strait of Urmuz, a key transit point for world energy supplies.
