The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, has voiced Tehran’s ambitions for continuing to expand its nuclear program at a time when the cleric-led country’s parliament is demanding lifting sanctions imposed on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
For his part, US President Joe Biden has affirmed the need to curb Iran’s regional activity. His remarks found European support.
Eslami said that major powers “began the nuclear agreement by sabotaging and questioning the infrastructure of the nuclear program.”
He also noted that the West has asked Iran to destroy all its nuclear energies.
“We face illogical and arrogant views of this kind,” said Eslami.
Iran’s nuclear chief said Iran wields less than 2% of the global nuclear capacity but is subject to 25% of all inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to government news agency ISNA.
Speaking at an Education Ministry conference, the AEOI chief added that nuclear energy has nothing to do with an A-bomb and enables key scientific achievements.
He said a case in point is Iran’s ongoing work on molecular research on heavy water, which led to production of newborn screening drops in the recent months.
He also talked about the unveiling of the strategic development document of the AEOI back in March.
Eslami said the document calls for training of at least 20,000 experts in the nuclear field in the next 20 years and how nuclear technology can affect different dimensions of people’s ordinary life.
Eslami’s remarks were directed at the possible steps that Western parties might demand of Iran if talks reached a deal to revive the nuclear agreement.
His statements also come three weeks after he said that “Iran has the technical ability to produce an atomic bomb, but it does not intend to do so.”
