Iran says ‘nothing wrong’ in reaching nuclear agreement with West

Tehran, June 11 (EFE).- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that “there is nothing wrong” in reaching a nuclear agreement with the West if the atomic infrastructure of the Islamic Republic remained intact.

“There is nothing wrong with the agreement (with the West), but the infrastructure of our nuclear industry should not be touched,” Khamenei said during a speech at an exhibition on Iran’s atomic progress.

The remarks come amid a logjam between Iran and the United States in reviving a 2015 nuclear pact between the Islamic Republic and the six global powers.

Iran began negotiations in 2021 with Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and indirectly with the United States to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The deal limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. But then US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018.

The Iranian leader, who has the last say on all matters related to national security like the nuclear program, said Tehran “must continue” cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) within the “framework of the safeguards agreement.”

But he emphasized the Islamic Republic also needed to comply with a law passed by parliament in 2020 regarding the nuclear deal.

Khamenei insisted that his country did not seek nuclear weapons, as claimed by the “enemies” to hinder the country’s “scientific progress.”

“The enemies have created a nuclear challenge for us for 20 years because they know that the movement in the nuclear industry is the key to the country’s scientific progress,” Khamenei said. “The excuse of nuclear weapons is a lie and they know it too.”

In 2019, Iran began violating the terms of the agreement in response to the withdrawal by Washington.

Since then, its stockpile of enriched uranium has increased to 4,500 kilograms, exceeding the 300-kilogram limit set by the 2015 agreement.

It has also enriched 114 kilograms to 60 percent, a level close to that required for the production of nuclear bombs.

Negotiations with Germany, France, the UK, Russia, China, and indirectly with the US have been stalled for months.

But foreign media reported that Tehran and Washington’s negotiators met in Oman recently.

Iran Saturday announced that Iraq has unfrozen $2.7 billion of Iranian funds blocked by US sanctions. EFE

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