The Iranian city of Teheran (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said yesterday that Iran will continue its nuclear development activities as talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear agreement with the world powers remain stalled, state media reported.
President Ahmadinejad said his administration would support an increase in research into peaceful nuclear technology during a ceremony commemorating Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology.
As far as nuclear science and technology are concerned, there is no going back. Iran’s new president, who took office in August, declared that the country’s peaceful nuclear research would not be contingent on the views or demands of others.
Raisi’s remarks came as negotiations between Iran and world powers in Vienna to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled.
Four years ago, former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and imposed crippling sanctions on the country. During this time, Iran has greatly increased the scope of its nuclear program.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program has been used solely for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and producing medical isotopes.
Several medical isotopes, agricultural pesticides, detoxification equipment, and nuclear fuel material were on display at Iran’s civil nuclear achievements ceremony the other day. There was no further information provided in the report.
Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s civilian Atomic Energy Organization, announced that the country plans to begin construction on a new nuclear power plant with a 360-megawatt capacity as quickly as possible. It will be situated in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan in the country’s southwest.
Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the plant was supposed to be built with the help of France, but the project was halted in its early stages.
This was a major battleground during the Iran–Iraq war that raged for eight years beginning in 1980.
The 1,000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear power plant, built with Russian assistance, became operational in Iran’s southern port city in 2011.
Iranian uranium stockpiles continue to grow, and the country is currently enriching it to 60% purity.
To get to weapons-grade levels requires only a short technical leap from Iran’s previous record of 90%. The nuclear deal’s 3.67 percent cap is abysmal compared to this figure.
According to the country’s Foreign Ministry, Iran has imposed symbolic sanctions on additional US officials for their role in harming Iran. The death in Iraq of a senior Iranian general in 2020 led to the imposition of sanctions on more than 50 Americans in early January. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and eight other individuals were subject to Iranian sanctions in 2021.
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