Iran won't accept any deal without uranium enrichment: Araghchi

Iran is open to future talks over its nuclear program but will not accept any deal that excludes uranium enrichment, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday during a meeting with foreign envoys in Tehran. “We have always been ready to negotiate over our nuclear program and will continue to be,” Araghchi said. “But it is natural that we must ensure any future talks are not turned into war by the US or others.”

“No agreement will be accepted without enrichment,” he added. “If talks happen, the subject will only be the nuclear issue.” Araghchi ruled out any discussion of Iran’s military capabilities. “Iran’s military and defense power will not be part of any negotiation,” he said. He said Iran’s nuclear facilities were damaged in recent strikes by the US and Israel, but the bigger blow was to the global non-proliferation regime. “The reality is our facilities were hit, but what was hit harder was the Non-Proliferation Treaty itself.” He added that cooperation with the IAEA would continue but now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian lawmaker on Saturday accused International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors of hiding surveillance microchips in their shoes during visits to Iran’s nuclear sites. "Why is it that every time these inspectors enter our nuclear facilities, and we conduct body checks, we find microchips in their shoes?" the deputy chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said. "It is a fact, not a slogan, that these inspectors are spies," Mahmoud Nabavian said in remarks published by Fars News Agency. He accused the UN nuclear watchdog of repeatedly passing classified information to foreign governments. "How did Iran’s nuclear installations, such as those in Natanz, become known to the outside world?"