TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister 
Abbas Araghchi said here Saturday Iran’s inalienable right to enrich uranium is based on the principle of “renouncing foreign domination.”
Araghchi was speaking during a visit alongside the employees of the Foreign Ministry to Imam Khomeini’s mausoleum in southern Tehran to renew their allegiance to the ideals of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution.
“The main foundation of [Iran’s] foreign policy is based on the mentality and principle of renouncing foreign domination,” Araghchi said.
“In the very first article of the Constitution, it is stipulated that the establishment of the Islamic Republic is based on the rejection of oppression and being oppressed, and domination and being dominated,” he added. “This has been and continues to be the foundation of our movement.”
The top Iranian diplomat underlined that the same policy is pursued in Tehran’s ongoing talks with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy file.
“There is much to say about the nuclear issue and enrichment as one of the country’s necessities, but in nuclear negotiations, another focus of our work relates to the issue of rejecting domination; this has always been our guiding principle in the current negotiations,” Araghchi said.
“The statement that you should not carry out enrichment is itself domination. Why shouldn’t we have enrichment? This is absolutely unacceptable to the Iranian nation.”
Stressing that the Islamic Republic has been pioneering in the denunciation of nuclear weapons, Araghchi added, “They are by no means entitled to deprive the Iranian nation of its rights. Nuclear energy is the inalienable right of the Iranian people.”
In an interview with Oman’s state television on Wednesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is prepared for relevant cooperation aimed at proving the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, but will not relinquish its nuclear rights under any circumstances.
Pezeshkian also noted that a fatwa (religious decree) that had been issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had clearly prohibited the Islamic Republic from seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran and the United States have been engaged in indirect negotiations, mediated by Oman, since April to find a replacement for the 2015 nuclear agreement – formally 

known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran showed the peaceful nature of its nuclear program to the world by signing the landmark deal with six world powers in 2015.
The JCPOA was derailed in 2018 by the U.S., which unilaterally walked out of the accord and launched its so-called campaign of maximum pressure against Iran.
Iran now wants guarantees that the U.S. will terminate all the sanctions and won’t again unilaterally derail the new deal.