Iran refuses to give up on uranium enrichment

Iran has rejected pressure from Washington to abandon its uranium enrichment program even in the face of military threats and fresh sanctions. Speaking at a public forum in Tehran on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would not be intimidated into changing its nuclear policy and expressed deep scepticism about the United States’ intentions in ongoing negotiations. Araghchi’s remarks came amid the backdrop of Iran and the US resuming talks in Oman for the first time in years, following an escalation in the Middle East that pulled Washington into military action against Tehran with Israel. "Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," he added, referring to the arrival of an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Arabian Sea.
The United States and Iran reopened negotiations on Friday in Oman for the first time since Israel's 12-day war with the Islamic republic in June of last year, which the US briefly joined. He later said Iran was consulting with its "strategic partners" China and Russia about the talks. "Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up, even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behaviour," Araghchi said at the forum. Iran is seeking to have US economic sanctions on the country lifted, in exchange for what Araghchi said at the forum could be "a series of confidence-building measures concerning the nuclear programme".
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday denounced "the attempt by the most extreme regime in the world to obtain the most dangerous weapon in the world", calling it "a clear danger to peace". The US and Israel additionally want the negotiations to go beyond the nuclear issue and include Iran's ballistic missiles and support for armed groups in the region, issues Iran refuses to include in the talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday -- insists these two components be included in any negotiation, his office said Saturday.