Iran’s nuclear agency chief has drawn a sharp line regarding the country’s uranium supply, ahead of Tehran’s talks with the US. Mohammad Eslami, who leads the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, has said that Tehran’s right to enrich uranium remains both crucial, and non-negotiable.
Stating that enrichment remains a key component for the formulation of any ceasefire agreement framework, Eslami’s statements come as the US and Iran are due to meet in Islamabad this week, with the former repeatedly insisting that Tehran cannot enrich its uranium, and has even threatened to take control of its stockpile forcefully, if the Islamic Republic doesn’t voluntarily give up control.
There are mounting questions over what will happen to Iran’s vast stockpile of enriched uranium, how and when normal traffic will resume through the strait, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch missile attacks in the future.
While Washington asked for the total removal of its uranium supply, dismantling its missile programme, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has agreed only to reopen the strait, and on terms that could yield substantial financial rewards for the regime, as it has said that it will charge a toll for every ship which enters the crucial waterway.
The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs – the elimination of which were major objectives for the US and Israel in going to war – for now remains very unclear.
While the US insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build them, should it choose to pursue the bomb, while Iran insists its program is entirely peaceful.
Trump said Wednesday that the US would work with Iran to remove the buried uranium, though Iran did not confirm that. In one version of the deal that Iran published, it said it would be allowed to continue enrichment.
