Iranian state media has continued to say Tehran will pursue uranium enrichment. This is a key policy of the current government, “because this is a scientific achievement; an achievement that we have achieved ourselves,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News this week. “Why should we import something that we can produce ourselves?”
Tehran’s decision to press forward on this key demand is one of reasons there will continue to be tensions with Iran. Tehran has not been able to come back to the negotiation table with the US.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, is heading to Europe this week. Although a Gaza ceasefire is one issue that Washington would like to deal with, the Iranian issue is another.
The Gaza issue vs. the Iran issue
Tehran and the US held six rounds of indirect talks before the Israeli strikes against Iran on June 13. Iran has not wanted to return to the table for talks, but it has indicated that even if it does return, it will want indirect talks. Tehran has also threatened European countries against any kind of “snapback” under the 2015 Iran deal.
Araghchi told Fox News, “in response to the moderator’s question about why you are increasing enrichment to such high percentages, for example, 90% or 60%, when it should be at 3.5%, said: No, no, we will never go to 90%. We are committed to staying below 5% for the production of fuel for nuclear power plants. We also enrich up to 20% because we have a research reactor in Tehran called the Tehran Research Reactor or TRR. We enrich uranium for our own needs,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
“We went up to 60% once, and that was after the sabotage of our nuclear facilities,” he said. “And yes, we went up to 60% at that time, but during the negotiations, I told the other parties that if a nuclear deal was reached, we would immediately go back to the lower level.”
“The uranium enrichment process has been stopped for now, because the damage [to the nuclear facilities] has been very severe,” Araghchi was quoted as saying. “We certainly cannot give up on our enrichment, because this is the achievement of our scientists, and now it is beyond that: It has become a matter of national pride; enrichment is very valuable to us.”