Iran FM: No Longer Enriching Uranium   11/17 06:31

   

   TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that Tehran is no 
longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the 
West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program.

   Answering a question from an Associated Press journalist visiting Iran, 
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered the most direct response yet from the 
Iranian government regarding its nuclear program following Israel and the 
United States' bombing of its enrichment sites in June during a 12-day war.

   "There is no undeclared nuclear enrichment in Iran. All of our facilities 
are under the safeguards and monitoring" of the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, Araghchi said. "There is no enrichment right now because our facilities 
-- our enrichment facilities -- have been attacked."

   Iran says it is threatened over accessing bombed sites

   Asked what it would take for Iran to continue negotiations with the U.S. and 
others, Araghchi said Iran's message on its nuclear program remains "clear."

   "Iran's right for enrichment, for peaceful use of nuclear technology, 
including enrichment, is undeniable," the foreign minister continued. "We have 
this right, and we continue to exercise that, and we hope that the 
international community, including the United States, recognize our rights and 
understand that this is an inalienable right of Iran. And we would never give 
up our rights."

   Iran's government issued a three-day visa for the AP reporter to attend a 
summit alongside journalists from major British outlets and other media.

   Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, also 
attended the summit and told the gathering that Tehran had been threatened over 
potentially accessing the bombed enrichment sites. Satellite pictures analyzed 
by the AP since the attack show that Iran has not done any major work at the 
sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

   "Our security situation hasn't yet changed. If you watch the news, you see 
that every day we are being threatened with another attack," Eslami said. 
"Every day we are told if you touch anything, you'll be attacked."

   Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity -- a short, technical step 
from weapons-grade levels -- after U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally 
withdrew America from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. 
Tehran long has maintained its atomic program is peaceful, though the West and 
the IAEA say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.

   European nations also pushed through a measure to reimpose United Nations 
sanctions on Iran over the nuclear program in September.

   The IAEA's Board of Governors is set to meet this week and could vote on a 
new resolution targeting Iran over its failure to cooperate fully with the 
agency.

   But Araghchi left open the possibility of further negotiations with the U.S. 
should Washington's demands change.

   He told journalists at the summit that the U.S. administration's approach 
does not suggest they are ready for "equal, fair negotiations to reach mutual 
interests."

   "What we have seen from the Americans so far has actually been an effort to 
dictate their demands, which are maximalist and excessive. We see no chance for 
dialogue in the face of such demands."

   Iran summit decries 'aggression'

   Iran's Institute for Political and International Studies, affiliated with 
the country's Foreign Ministry, hosted the summit. Titled "International Law 
Under Assault: Aggression and Self-Defense," the conference included papers by 
Iranian political analysts offering Tehran's view of the 12-day war in June, 
many seizing on comments from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praising Israel 
for having done the "dirty work" in launching its attack.

   "Iran's defensive response was remarkable, inspiring, historic and above 
all, pure," wrote Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour, an international relations 
professor. "How can one possibly compare Israel's dirty deeds to the noble and 
clean actions of the Iranian nation?"

   Images of children killed by Israel during the war lined the walkway outside 
the summit, held inside the Martyr General Qassem Soleimani Building, named for 
the Revolutionary Guard expeditionary leader killed by a U.S. drone strike in 
2020.

   But Iran finds itself in a difficult moment after the war. Israel decimated 
the country's air defense systems, potentially leaving the door open to further 
airstrikes as tensions remain high over the nuclear program.

   Meanwhile, economic pressures and societal change continue to challenge 
Iran's Shiite theocracy, which so far has held off on making decisions about 
whether to enforce its mandatory hijab laws or raise the price of 
government-subsidized gasoline, both of which have sparked nationwide protests 
in the past.