Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that the Islamic regime will not stop enriching uranium, days after U.S. airstrikes were launched against the country’s nuclear program.
When asked by CBS host Margaret Brennan whether Iran would restart enriching uranium, he said, “I think that enrichment will ... never stop.” He then said that Iran has the “inalienable right” to do so and that Tehran wants “to implement this right.”
Iravani then said that Iran is going to enrich uranium “always in a peaceful manner,” echoing claims by the regime that have been disputed by the U.S. and Israeli governments.
For producing electricity for civilian use, uranium only needs to be enriched to 3.67 percent. A report released by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in early May, however, said that Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 percent. To make a nuclear weapon, uranium needs to be enriched to 90 percent.
Both the United States and Israel have long said that Iran is working to develop nuclear weapons alongside a ballistic missile program, warranting recent airstrikes on the country.
When asked whether any U.N. inspectors in Iran are safe and can perform inspections, Iravani said: “They are in Iran. They are in safe conditions. But activity has been suspended. They cannot have access to our site.”
Earlier this month, Israel launched a surprise airstrike targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities as well as top military leaders, prompting Tehran to fire salvos of missiles at Israel over a roughly 12-day period. The United States then bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities before U.S. President Donald Trump announced a cease-fire days later between Iran and Israel.
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“What I can tell you, and I think everyone agrees on this, is that there is very considerable damage,” he told the outlet, although he declined to say whether the sites faced “annihilation” or “total destruction,” according to a translation from French.
On June 27, Trump warned that he could again take military action against Iran if it again enriches uranium to a concerning level. The president has previously said that Iran cannot have possession of a nuclear weapon and indicated in public remarks that Tehran was fast approaching the development of such a device, warranting the need for the airstrikes.
“Time will tell,” Trump told reporters at the White House during a news conference, “but I don’t believe that they’re going to go back into nuclear anytime soon.”
