TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says there will be no ground for dialogue between Iran and the Europeans if they persistence that Tehran completely stop its peaceful uranium enrichment activities.
In a post on his official account on X, Araghchi said Iran has held “multilateral engagement” with the UK and other European members of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The interaction, he wrote, has so far taken place “in good faith,” although, “the U.S. continues to show no interest” in getting the European states involved in indirect talks between Washington and Tehran.
However, “if the UK position is ‘zero enrichment’ in Iran…, there is nothing left for us to discuss on the nuclear issue,” Araghchi asserted.
The official cautioned that such demand on the part of London would stand in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which entitles member countries to peaceful uranium enrichment, and the UK’s commitments to the JCPOA that similarly takes Iran’s right to enrichment into account.
The remarks came after Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the United States, said during a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washingtonv that “Britain strongly supports President Trump’s initiative in negotiating away these enrichment and related facilities in Iran.”
The U.S., and its primary regional ally, the Israeli regime, have repeatedly called for an outright halt to the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear enrichment activities.
For its part, Tehran has resolutely defended its sovereign right to engage in nuclear enrichment for peaceful and civilian purposes.
Recently, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described U.S. demand as “utterly wrong,” asserting that the Islamic Republic did not require approval from any foreign entity to continue its enrichment activities.