BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10. There is no basis for the potential militarization of Iran's nuclear program, the country's Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, Trend reports.
According to him, Iran's nuclear program has always been and will remain entirely peaceful.
Araghchi noted that Iran will not negotiate under pressure and intimidation. Iran will not consider it, no matter what the subject may be. Negotiation is different from bullying and issuing diktats.
"Iran is holding consultations with three European countries (UK, France, and Germany), and separately with Russia and China on an equal and mutually respectful basis. The goal is to find ways to create more trust and transparency in Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against the country," he noted.
Meanwhile, on February 5, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to restore maximum pressure on Iran. The US President expressed hope that the maximum pressure will not be applied too often. He also noted that he is ready for dialog with the Iranian president.
On March 3, Rafael Grossi, the Director-General of the IAEA, mentioned during the IAEA Board of Governors' meeting that Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity by 93 kilograms, from 182 kilograms to 275 kilograms compared to the previous quarter. Iran remains the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to this level, raising significant concerns.
On January 16, 2016, the JCPOA came into force between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions on Iran starting from November 2018.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement starting February 23, 2021.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.
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