Iran Ready to Consult with IAEA on Nuclear Facilities - Deputy FM

TEHRAN, Aug 12 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Tehran is prepared to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog for safe and transparent inspections, including at facilities damaged in the recent strikes, in line with new guidelines to be agreed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-e Ravanchi told Kyodo News that Iran’s nuclear programme “will remain peaceful.”

He added that Iran maintains its nuclear activities are for civilian purposes such as energy generation and medical research.

Tehran is prepared to accept certain limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, but ending uranium enrichment entirely is non-negotiable, he noted.

“Iran can be flexible on the capacities and limits of enrichment, but cannot agree to stop enrichment under any circumstance because it is essential, and we need to rely on ourselves, not on empty promises,” Ravanchi said.

The remarks come amid a prolonged impasse in US-Iran nuclear talks.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term, under which Tehran agreed to curb nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Iranian officials said efforts to revive negotiations were derailed in mid-June when Israel carried out air strikes in Iran, killing a nuclear scientist and senior military commanders.

On June 22, US Air Force B-2 bombers struck three Iranian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO