NOURNEWS- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has defended his country’s enrichment of uranium, saying it was a response to European states not living up to their end of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
“In the beginning, we were not seeking 60% levels of enrichment. They (European states) trampled upon their commitments,” Raisi told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. “What the Islamic Republic of Iran did was in response to a breaking of commitment of the signatories to the (2015) agreement.”
Raisi rejected accusations that Iran’s ramped up enrichment was because the country is seeking to build a bomb, telling CNN: “It was officially announced that the action that we intend to take is not intended to reach nuclear weapons of any type or a military dimension of any type, but it is… a response for the lack of commitment demonstrated by the Europeans.”
He also reiterated that Tehran does not plan to acquire a nuclear bomb.
The Iranian president told CNN that should Europeans at “any time return to a fulfillment of their commitments, rest assured, and have no doubt that the Islamic Republic, as it has done in the past, will fully adhere to [its] commitments.”
Raisi told CNN that Iran’s intention is not to bar the IAEA from conducting inspections, but that Tehran has withdrawn designations of inspectors from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the countries that didn’t live up to their commitments under the 2015 deal, as well as the US.
“Iran hasn’t said we do not wish any inspectors to be here,” Raisi told CNN. “We have said what these three countries, what has been said by the IAEA is that we have certain considerations vis-a-vis individuals from these three countries,” he said, adding that “their trust is under a shadow of doubt.”
NOURNEWS