WANA (May 18) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has firmly rejected recent U.S. demands to halt uranium enrichment, stating that enrichment activities will continue as part of Iran’s sovereign rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Tehran Dialogue Forum, Araghchi responded to recent remarks made by U.S. envoy Witkoff, who had reiterated Washington’s red lines on Iran’s nuclear program.

 

“He is far from the realities of the negotiations,” Araghchi said. “Uranium enrichment will continue in Iran. We are ready to offer assurances that we do not seek nuclear weapons, but unrealistic demands will not lead to any results.”

 

Earlier, U.S. envoy Witkoff had stated:  “President Trump wants to get with Iran—well, the president has been very clear he wants to solve this conflict diplomatically and with dialogue. He’s giving all the signals. He’s directly sent letters to the Supreme Leader. I have been dispatched to deliver that message as well—and I’ve delivered it.

 

He added: “But on the other hand, we have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability. We’ve delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them. That’s important.”

 

“We want to get to a solution here, and we think that we will be able to. But everything begins from our standpoint with a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that, because enrichment enables weaponization—and we will not allow a bomb to get here. But short of that, there are all kinds of ways for us to achieve our goals in this negotiation,” he said.

 

Regarding the next round of Iran-U.S. talks, he stated, “We think that we will be meeting sometime this week in Europe, and we hope that it will lead to some real positivity.”