Tehran (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Iran will not give up its right to uranium enrichment due to escalating tensions in the region, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday. They added that a “friendly” regional nation had warned Iran about a possible military action by Israel.
US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that US personnel were being withdrawn from the Middle East due to concerns over the region’s potential instability and reiterated that the United States would not permit Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iran and the US will hold fresh talks, mediated by Omani officials, in Muscat to try to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.
According to the official, the tensions were meant to “influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights” during discussions with the US on Sunday in Oman.
“We don’t want tensions and prefer diplomacy to resolve the (nuclear) issue, but our armed forces are fully ready to respond to any military strike,”
The Iranian official stated.
Can Omani mediation prevent conflict in the region?
Following five rounds of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, several issues still need to be resolved. At this Sunday’s meeting in Oman’s capital, Iran is expected to present a counter-proposal to the US offer aimed at bridging the gaps.
These include Iran’s refusal to meet a US demand to abandon uranium enrichment. Iran is seeking the lifting of US sanctions imposed on the country since 2018, after Trump withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with six powers during his first term.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the US proposal as being against Iran’s interests, vowing to continue enrichment on Iranian soil, which Western powers see as a potential route to developing nuclear weapons. Iran claims its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.
