Price and others in President Joe Biden’s administration say any future talks with Iran remain off the table as Tehran cracks down on the months-long protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained in September by the country’s morality police. “We’ve heard a number of statements from the Iranian foreign minister that are dubious if not outright lies, so I would just keep that broader context in mind when you point to statements from the Iranian foreign minister,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday in a response to a question. READ MORE: Iran announces start of construction on new nuclear power plantĪs Iran’s rial currency plunges further to historic lows against the dollar amid its crises, Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also have made unsupported claims about American officials agreeing to their demands or frozen money abroad being released.Īt the State Department, the denials about Iran’s claims have grown more and more pointed. Iranian state television separately quoted Mohammad Eslami, the head of the country’s civilian nuclear program, as saying Tehran would welcome a visit by Grossi to the country. “The Iranian nuclear program has never been about making nuclear weapons and enriching has nothing to do with deviating from it,” the mission said, despite Iran accelerating its enrichment after the deal’s collapse. Iran’s mission to the U.N., responding to questions about Grossi’s remarks, insisted in comments to The Associated Press on Thursday that Tehran “is prepared to stick to its commitments within the framework of the (deal) provided the other parties do the same.” Talks between Iran and the West ended in August with a “final text” of a roadmap on restoring the 2015 deal that Iran until today hasn’t accepted. However, Iranian officials in recent months have begun openly talking about the prospect of building nuclear weapons. Iranian diplomats for years have pointed to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t seek an atomic bomb. Today, North Korea has ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads that are capable of reaching the U.S. intentions after its invasion of Iraq, Pyongyang announced it had built nuclear weapons. Analysts point to what happened with North Korea, which had reached a 1994 deal with the U.S. So they haven’t proliferated yet.”īut the danger remains. “That doesn’t mean they have a nuclear weapon. They have 70 kilograms (155 pounds) of uranium enriched at 60 percent. and putting lines - well, that is long past. “You remember there was to be this issue of the breakthrough and Mr. While the 2015 nuclear deal drastically reduced Iran’s uranium stockpile and capped its enrichment to 3.67 percent, Netanyahu successfully lobbied then-President Donald Trump to withdraw from the accord and set up the current tensions. The Argentine diplomat then referred to Benjamin Netanyahu’s famous 2012 speech to the United Nations, in which the Israeli prime minister held up a placard of a cartoon-style bomb with a burning wick and drew a red line on it to urge the world to not allow Tehran’s program to highly enrich uranium. “One thing is true: They have amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one at this point,” Grossi said. While offering a caveat on Tuesday that “we need to be extremely careful” in describing Iran’s program, Grossi bluntly acknowledged just how large Tehran’s high-enriched uranium stockpile had grown. Even at the height of previous tensions between the West and Iran under hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran never enriched uranium as high as it does now.įor months, nonproliferation experts have suggested Iran had enough uranium enriched up to 60 percent to build at least one nuclear weapon - though Tehran long has insisted its program is for peaceful purposes. The warning from Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in response to questions from European lawmakers this week, shows just how high the stakes have become over Iran’s nuclear program. READ MORE: House commends Iranian protesters in bipartisan vote But diplomatic efforts aimed at again limiting its atomic program seem more unlikely than ever before as Tehran arms Russia in its war on Ukraine and as unrest shakes the Islamic Republic. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses, the United Nations’ top nuclear official is now warning.
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