PARIS: Iran’s atomic energy chief on Thursday said “no country can deprive Iran of the right” to nuclear enrichment, following fresh US warnings that there were “many reasons” to strike the Islamic republic.
The two foes recently resumed indirect talks, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran, at first over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month then more recently over its nuclear programme.
“Iran’s nuclear programme is proceeding according to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and no country can deprive Iran of the right to peacefully benefit from this technology,” said Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami, in a video published in Iranian media.
It came after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on Wednesday there were “many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran”.
“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump.”
A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site, with a US military buildup under way in the Middle East.
He also warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying the archipelago’s Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, “in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime.”
CNN and CBS reported Wednesday that the US military would be ready to launch strikes against Iran as early as this weekend, though Trump has reportedly not made a final decision yet.
The Wall Street Journal meanwhile reported that Trump has been briefed on his military options with “all of them designed to maximize damage”, including a campaign to “kill scores of Iranian political and military leaders, with the goal of overthrowing the government”, unnamed US officials told the newspaper.
Iran and the US held a second round of Oman-mediated negotiations on Tuesday in Geneva.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the time that Tehran had agreed with Washington on “guiding principles”, but US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington’s red lines.
Speaking on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted “We do not want war” but suggested Tehran could not give in to US demands.
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