Iran’s President Tells UN Tehran Will Never Seek to Build Nuclear Bomb

“I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said.

On August 28, Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process to reimpose U.N. sanctions that ends on September 27, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Pezeshkian criticised the move by European powers as “illegal”, saying it was made at “the behest of the United States of America”.

The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear programme as a veil for efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

“In doing so, they (the E3) set aside good faith. They circumvented legal obligations. They sought to portray Iran’s lawful remedial measures … as a gross violation,” Pezeshkian said.

Still, both sides have left the door open to further negotiations. While the E3 says Iran’s clerical rulers have so far failed to meet the conditions it set, Tehran says it will not offer concessions.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on key state matters such as foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, has ruled out negotiations with the United States under threat.

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The so-called “snapback” process would reimpose an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities.

Soon after the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran’s parliament passed a law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

However, the IAEA and Tehran reached a deal on September 9 to resume inspections at nuclear sites and U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday a team of inspectors was on its way to Iran should Tehran and the E3 strike a deal this week to avert revival of sanctions.

(Reuters)