Iran has no plans to abandon its nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, despite “severe” damage to its facilities after US strikes last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday.
“For now, enrichment is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe,” Araghchi said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.
“But obviously we cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists,” he added, calling it a source of “national pride.”
The FM stressed that any future nuclear deal would have to contain the right to enrichment.
When asked whether any enriched uranium had been saved from the strikes, Araghchi said he had “no detailed information,” but that Iran's Atomic Energy Organization is “trying to evaluate what has exactly happened to our nuclear material, to our enriched material.”
He also said Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was in “good health” and that Tehran was open to talks with Washington but that those will not be direct “for the time being.”
In response to Araghchi’s comments, US President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could strike Iran's nuclear sites again “if necessary.”
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Monday, “Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, on the Iran Nuclear Sites: ‘Damages are very severe, they are destroyed.’ Of course they are, just like I said.”
Meanwhile, Araghchi said Iran remains open to indirect talks with the Trump administration following the strikes on Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, but cautioned that Iran will not give up nuclear enrichment in any potential deal.
Prior to the war, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks mediated by Oman but could not agree on the extent to which Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium. Israel and Washington say Iran was close to enriching to levels that would allow it to quickly produce a nuclear weapon, while Tehran says its enrichment program is for civilian purposes only.
Araghchi also confirmed that his country would continue to develop and manufacture missiles.
Despite multiple barrages of missiles launched at Israel and waves of Israeli attacks on its bases and launchers, the FM said: “We still have a good number of missiles to defend ourselves.”
He also denied that Iran wants to wipe Israel “off the map.”
Moreover, Araghchi asserted that Tehran would continue to support Palestinian and other armed groups. “We believe that these groups – Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis – are fighting for a just cause.”
Criticism
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars News Agency criticized Araghchi’s interview.
The news agency said on Tuesday Araghchi’s acknowledgment that the US strikes caused “serious damage” to nuclear facilities and led to a halt in enrichment signaled weakness.
Fars called the remarks exaggerated and warned that such statements could be viewed as a sign of excessive flexibility.
It also said Araghchi should not have dismissed clerical fatwas issued in Iran calling for the killing of Trump. “Araghchi should not have referred the fatwas to radical groups,” it wrote.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told Fox News on Tuesday that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
“I don’t believe a single word that the Iranian foreign minister says,” Whitaker said.
He continued: “He’s not a credible voice for peace. I think it is time for Iran to come to the table and negotiate with the United States of America on a path towards peace and prosperity for the Iranian people.”
