TEHRAN — President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday that Tehran will not give up right to develop its nuclear industry for peaceful purposes, and all parties involved in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear accord should respect this.
Speaking in a ceremony marking Iran’s national day of nuclear technology, the president said his administration will support an acceleration in research of peaceful nuclear technology.
“Our knowledge and technology in the nuclear field is not reversible. Iran’s (continuation of) research in peaceful nuclear fields will not depend on others’ demands or viewpoints,” said President Raisi, who came to office in August.
The nuclear deal collapsed four years ago when former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States and imposed draconian sanctions on Iran.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program has had peaceful purposes like generating electric power and medical isotopes.
During Saturday’s ceremony, Iran displayed its new civil nuclear achievements, including several medical isotopes, agricultural pesticides, detoxification equipment and nuclear fuel material.
“For more than the one-hundredth time, our message from Tehran to Vienna is that we will not back off from the Iranian people’s nuclear rights… not even an iota,” Raisi said.
The head of Iran’s civilian Atomic Energy Organization, Muhammad Eslami, said Iran will soon pursue construction of a new nuclear power plant with 360-megawatt capacity. It is to be located near the town of Darkhovin in Khuzestan province in the country’s southwest.
The plant was supposed to be built before the 1979 Islamic Revolution with help from France but the project was halted in its initial phase. The site became a major battlefield in the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq that began in 1980.
Iran’s sole nuclear power plant, with 1,000-megawatt capacity, went online in 2011 with help from Russia in the southern port city of Bushehr.
Among the accomplishments put on display Saturday were three radiopharmaceuticals, two achievements in the fields of cold plasma technology (CPT) and plasma therapy for cancer patients, and another four in the areas of industry, lasers, control systems, and photography.
Raisi expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the Iranian youth and scientists in the field of nuclear energy, describing the achievements as a symbol of self-confidence and reliance on domestic capabilities.
He called for extending this spirit to other industries and strategic fields in the country.