DUBAI, UAE (Iran) – Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected initial offers in talks in Vienna to save Tehran’s nuclear deal as “not worth looking at” in an attempt to pressure world powers after an attack on the country’s main nuclear enrichment site.
The comments of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state affairs in the Islamic Republic, came after a day in which the Iranian president increased the pressure on the agreement. similarly. Meanwhile, European powers warned Tehran that its actions were “particularly unfortunate” and “dangerous.”
Talks have already been sparked by a weekend attack on Natanz’s main nuclear enrichment site in Iran, which is suspected to have been carried out by Israel. Tehran retaliated by announcing that it would enrich uranium up to 60%, higher than ever, but still below 90% of the weapons.
“The offerings they offer are often arrogant and humiliating (and) not worth looking at,” Khamenei, 81, said in a speech marking the first day of the holy month of Muslim fasting in Ramadan in Iran. .
He also criticized the United States and warned that time could run out.
“Conversations should not turn into wear and tear conversations,” Khamenei said. “They shouldn’t be in a way that parties are dragging and prolonging talks. That’s detrimental to the country.”
Speaking to his cabinet, a passionate Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said first-generation IR-1 centrifuges that were damaged in Sunday’s attack would be replaced by advanced IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium much more quickly.
“You wanted to leave your hands empty during the conversations, but we have our hands full,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani added: “60% enrichment is a response to your wickedness. … We cut off both your hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges and the other with 60%. “
Rouhani also accused Israel of being behind Natanz’s attack and threatened retaliation.
In Jerusalem, at a commemoration of Memorial Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be referring to Iran.
“We must never remain apathetic to the threats of war and extermination of those who try to eliminate us,” he said. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, although it rarely does so in its ongoing shadow war against Tehran.
The talks in Vienna are aimed at finding a way for the United States to re-enter Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and get Iran back to its limits. The deal, from which former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the United States in 2018, prevented Iran from storing enough enriched uranium to be able to pursue a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
On Wednesday afternoon, the European Union said formal negotiations would resume on Thursday in Vienna.
Rouhani, in his comments, insisted on Wednesday that Iran still expects the Vienna talks to lead to a negotiated solution on its agenda, and the lifting of sanctions. Khamenei also said he believed in his negotiators, but kept up pressure on the West in his statements Wednesday night.
“They have to do what we say first and we are sure it is done, then we will do what we are forced to do,” he said.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all parties to the nuclear deal, issued a joint statement just hours earlier on Wednesday expressing their “grave concern” over Iran’s decision to increase enrichment.
“This is a serious development as the production of highly enriched uranium constitutes an important step in the production of a nuclear weapon,” the countries said. “Iran has no civilian need for credible enrichment at this level.”
China and Russia also participated in the agreement.
Similarly, Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, issued a statement saying that enrichment at this level “could not be considered a program for peaceful purposes.” He called on Iran to “avoid escalation.”
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. An annual intelligence report from the United States United States released Tuesday maintained the U.S. assessment that “Iran is not carrying out the key nuclear weapons development activities that we judge would be necessary to produce a nuclear device.”
Earlier, Iran had said it could use up to 60% enriched uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic does not currently have these vessels in its navy.
Iran had become rich by up to 20%, even this meant a brief technical step up to arms levels. The agreement limited Iran’s enrichment to 3.76%
Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, published an online letter addressed to IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, warning against “any adventurism of the (Israeli) regime” aimed at Iranian nuclear sites.
“The latest cowardly act of nuclear terrorism will only reinforce our determination to move forward and replace all (damaged) centrifuges with even more advanced and sophisticated machines,” Gharibabadi wrote.
IAEA inspectors visited Natanz on Wednesday on their first trip since the sabotage and found Iran preparing an area on the ground for further enrichment, the agency said.
Iran “has almost completed preparations to start producing (uranium gas) enriched up to 60%,” the IAEA said in a subsequent statement. “Iran informed the agency that the necessary pipeline was being finalized and that the supply of (uranium gas) enriched up to 5% in a cascade of IR-6 centrifuges would begin shortly thereafter.”
The weekend attack on Natanz was initially described only as a power outage that fed ground workshops and underground enrichment rooms, but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the hardhead of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred to “several thousand damaged and destroyed centrifuges” in a state television interview. However, no other official has offered this figure and no images of the sequels have been posted.
Satellite photographs of Planet Labs Inc. of Natanz made Wednesday and analyzed by The Associated Press showed no apparent surface damage to the facility.
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The writers of the Associated Press, Nasser Karimi, in Tehran, Iran; Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; David Rising in Berlin and Malak Harb in Dubai, UAE, contributed to this report.