Iran’s growing need for clean and sustainable energy has made nuclear development an “unquestionable necessity”, the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) said on Monday, the Tasnim new agency reported.
Nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said assassinations and military attacks carried by Iran’s enemies has failed to destroy the country's nuclear industry. “They have to get rid of this illusion,” he noted.
Speaking at Student Day commemorations in Tehran, Eslami noted the National Security Strategy approved by US President Donald Trump.
“Besides the emphasis on progress in various fields, the strategy mainly stresses technology development. Therefore, the US policy is based on power and the creation of a broad global rule led by the US, or the America First concept,” he said.
He accused Washington of using sanctions and political pressure as a tool to subjugate any country not serving such a policy, similar to what is now happening in Venezuela.
“(US Secretary of State Marco) Rubio said that Iran has no right to possess nuclear power, which means that the issue is not related to Tehran’s producing of a nuclear bomb,” he noted.
Eslami, who also acts as Vice-President, highlighted significant progress in the construction of the second and third units of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
He said more than 6,000 people are now working on the plant’s new units. The first unit alone has delivered “72 billion kilowatt hours of electricity” to the national grid and has a minimum operational lifespan of 50 years, he added.
Eslami said the current world order is plagued by “the law of the jungle and double standards,” but noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remains an institution under the United Nations, making it essential for Iran “to prevent accusations of deviation from regulations by adhering to the frameworks.”
“Iran has one problem with the IAEA: the political pressure exerted by the US, the E3 countries and the Zionist entity,” he added
“The accusation that they have been making against our industry for over 25 years is that we are pursuing military action and that we are not transparent,” Eslami said, adding that Iran has engaged in nuclear talks for 25 years before it signed the nuclear deal in 2015.
Eslami stressed that his country’s nuclear policies are run by an experienced system, not by one person. “Iran has an interest to follow such system until all sanctions are lifted. We are working to resolve this problem,” he said.
