Iranian leader Khamenei evaluates nuclear deal

Iranian leader Ali Khamenei evaluated the nuclear deal talks with the West. Khamenei stated that an agreement is possible as long as the infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear industry remains untouched. Iranian leader Ali Khamenei said that a nuclear deal with the West is possible as long as the country’s nuclear infrastructure remains untouched. According to Iranian state television, Khamenei spoke at an event in the capital Tehran where he received National Atomic Energy Agency employees and nuclear scientists. Stating that his country has made significant gains in the nuclear field, Khamenei pointed to the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 but which could not be implemented after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States. Khamenei said, “In previous years, nuclear industry executives and officials established important nuclear infrastructures in the country. There is nothing wrong with the (nuclear) agreement, but the infrastructure of our nuclear industry should not be touched.” Rejecting accusations that Iran’s nuclear activities are for military purposes, Khamenei said, “Just as the American intelligence community has accepted many times, including in recent months, that Iran has not taken any steps towards producing nuclear weapons, they also know that we are not seeking nuclear weapons.” Stating that weapons of mass destruction have no place in Islam, Khamenei said, “If this were not for an Islamic basis and we had the will to produce nuclear weapons, we would do it. Our enemies also know that they cannot stop us.” - Nuclear agreement and negotiation process with Iran An agreement was signed between Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) — the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany (5+1) — in 2015, whereby Tehran’s nuclear activities were regulated and monitored in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. The US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement reached with Iran in 2015 during Donald Trump’s presidency on May 8, 2018, and re-imposed sanctions on the country. Iran, in turn, began suspending its activities in the agreement on May 8, 2019. Despite the agreement allowing uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent, Iran had begun enriching uranium to 60 percent purity during this process. The nuclear talks that began in Vienna in April 2021 after Trump and focused on reviving the nuclear deal with Iran and rejoining the US were suspended in early September 2022 due to a series of disagreements between Washington and Tehran. The steps taken by Iran since the US withdrew from the agreement, including enriching uranium far beyond what is permitted in the nuclear agreement, make it difficult to return to the nuclear agreement. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Islami, said yesterday that they carried out the high-level uranium enrichment process, which provoked a reaction from Western countries, in order to ensure the lifting of sanctions.