TEHRAN -- Threats against Iran’s nuclear program have been rendered totally meaningless due to the indigenization of the country’s nuclear industry, the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Wednesday.
Speaking at a gathering of the heads of Iranian diplomatic missions held at the foreign ministry here, Behrouz Kamalvandi said even the enemies acknowledge that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear capabilities have reached a level that cannot be eliminated.
“Given that Iran’s nuclear capabilities have been indigenized and have grown deep roots, any threat against the country’s nuclear industry is completely meaningless,” he said.
Kamalvandi said the nuclear industry is a driving force in different industries and is not limited to a specific field.
He said Iran can provide one million patients with radiopharmaceuticals. The spokesman pointed to U.S. sanctions against Iran, saying the U.S. had claimed that medicines were not subject to sanctions, “but the truth was something else.”
Addressing the same event, head of the AEOI Muhammad Eslami said many companies from different countries want Iranian heavy water and its derivatives.
“Today, the whole nuclear fuel cycle, namely exploration, extraction, processing from mines, conversion, enrichment, and production of fuel and its use in reactors, is being carried out by our young and hardworking experts and scientists,” he said.
Eslami said Iran’s capability regarding the nuclear fuel cycle “cannot be negated.”
The nuclear chief further said if Iran did not have the nuclear fuel cycle and its reactors were not active, it could not produce radiopharmaceuticals to offset the impact of sanctions endangering the lives of many patients.
Eslami separately said his government would cooperate with international inspectors on any “new activities.”
His statement followed American claims about Tehran’s new underground tunnel system near the Natanz facility, which the Associated Press said was likely beyond the range of a last-ditch U.S. weapon designed to destroy such sites.
Speaking to journalists Wednesday after a cabinet meeting, Eslami said the claim was a case of Israel feeling pressured.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is working under the IAEA safeguards, and whenever wants to start new activities, it will coordinate with the IAEA, and acts accordingly,” Eslami said.