Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has reiterated his intention of rebuilding Iran’s nuclear facilities with assistance from China and Russia after the 2015 JCPOA agreement expired last month.
The Iranian security chief, Ali Larijani, said the country is ready for talks that do not include ‘unacceptable conditions’.
Pezeshkian said Tehran wants a diplomatic solution to build a domestic nuclear programme meant for civilian use, adding that his country was ready to build confidence with the West about the peaceful nature of its activities, but will not discuss anything non-nuclear.
He said the Iranian nuclear programme is pretty much intact. Similar claims were made by the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also played a lead role during the US-Iran nuclear negotiations before Washington ended them by launching air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June this year.
Pezeshkian, in an indirect swipe at the US, said, “Knowledge resides in minds; destroying buildings and factories will not pose a problem; we will rebuild again with even greater strength.”
On the other hand, the Trump administration has warned Iran not to resume building the nuclear facilities, as it might trigger a hostile response from Washington.
Trump has repeatedly said that Washington will not hesitate to conduct another round of strikes on Iranian facilities.
While the 12-day war targeted many civilian and military sites, killing at least 1,065 Iranians, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the main goal was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran has been working closely with its two important and powerful allies, Russia and China, to rebuild the destroyed nuclear research facilities.
The technical know-how of the Russian and Chinese engineers might allow Tehran to build the facilities in months, if not years.
Russia and China have also expressed firm support for Iran’s right to enrich uranium for civilian use under international law and the UN nuclear watchdog.
