Baku, Azerbaijan, July 21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accepted to talk to the US after failing to reach agreement with the P5+1, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said.
"Negotiations with the P5+1 continued for several years with no specific result. So, the Supreme Leader suggested starting talks with the US. He accepted to continue negotiations in parallel with US talks," Iran's Fars news agency quoted Salehi as saying July 21.
Salehi made the remarks in an open session of the parliament, aiming to outline outcomes of the Vienna nuclear deal.
"Although some limitations may seem to have happened, these limitations will not hamper or slow our nuclear activities," he said.
"Even if we have 200,000 SWUs uranium enrichment capacity, we can only continue such production for a while, because we don't have sufficient raw material."
Under permission from the Supreme Leader, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has been conducting airborne surveys for discovering uranium deposits, he said, adding that good news in this regard will be announced in the future.
"In the next 10 years, we will reach a level which will acquire raw materials for 190,000 SWU enrichment capacity," he noted.
On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany - reached a conclusion on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna following 18 days of intensive talks over Tehran's nuclear program.
The UN Security Council on July 20 unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the JCPOA reached between Iran and the P5+1 on non-proliferation.
Edited by CN