Dubai: Iran possesses the technological ability to create an atomic weapon but has no desire to do so. Mohammad Eslami is the head of the country’s atomic energy organisation.
Eslami echoed remarks made in July by Kamal Kharrazi, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Kharrazi’s comments amounted to a rare admission that the Islamic Republic, which has long denied seeking nuclear weapons, would be interested in them.
Iran has already surpassed the cap of 3.67 percent set by Tehran’s now-broken 2015 nuclear agreement with international powers by enriching uranium to up to 60 percent of fissile quality. For nuclear bombs, uranium must be enriched to 90%.
In 2018, former US President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear agreement, which had required Iran to reduce its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for respite form international economic sanctions and a halt to the development of nuclear weapons.
According to the chief Iranian nuclear negotiator, Iran has replied to Josep Borrell’s suggestion to save the nuclear agreement and wants the negotiations to end quickly.
Borrell announced on Tuesday that he has put forth a fresh draught of the agreement’s language.
