Iranian President Massoud Pezhekian said Tehran aims to rebuild nuclear facilities damaged by attacks by US and Israeli forces in June.
The statement came in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s threat to order new strikes if Tehran tried to repair four affected sites, including the Natanz uranium enrichment complex and the Isfahan nuclear power plant.
Iran has been at loggerheads with the West for more than two decades over its nuclear program following the revelations of secret enrichment sites.
What did the Iranian President say?
During a visit to the country’s nuclear agency, Pezeshkian said Iran “will not be held back” in rebuilding damaged sites.
“Destroying buildings and factories will not create any problems for us,” he said. “We will rebuild with greater strength.”
In a video posted on social media, he once again stressed that Tehran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program and stressed that its plans are entirely civilian in nature.
“It’s all about solving people’s problems, about disease, about people’s health,” Pezeshkian said.
Why did America, Israel attack Iran’s nuclear program?
Iran’s nuclear program has eluded Western scrutiny since 2003, when covered-up enrichment facilities were exposed, leading to two decades of sanctions, sabotage and failed negotiations.
Tensions rose this year after Iran in April enriched uranium to 83% purity – far above civilian needs and well below the level needed for nuclear weapons. Tehran expelled IAEA inspectors in May, leading to threats from the United States and Israel.
Israel views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat and in June, with the help of American B-2 bombers that can reach deeply buried sites, launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic, targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump claimed at the time that Iran’s nuclear program had been destroyed, while Tehran said there had been serious damage.
There has been no independent assessment of the destruction because Tehran has ceased all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Mediator Oman is pushing for fresh talks
On Saturday, Iran’s traditional mediator, Oman, urged Washington and Tehran to resume talks to resolve the long-running standoff.
“We want to return to dialogue between Iran (and) the United States,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told a conference in Bahrain.
Oman hosted five rounds of US-Iran talks this year. Just three days before the sixth round, Israel began its attacks on Iran.
To ramp up pressure, UN sanctions on Tehran were reinstated in September after Britain, Germany and France triggered a “snapback” mechanism over Iran’s alleged non-compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal agreed with world powers.
Under the deal, Tehran had committed to limiting its nuclear program but previously restarted uranium enrichment after Washington withdrew from the accord in 2018 during the Trump administration.
Edited by Shawn Sinico