Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Tehran would restore its nuclear facilities “with greater force”. He reiterated that the country is not seeking a nuclear weapon.
Pezeshkian said this during a visit to the Atomic Energy Organization there, where he met with senior officials of Iran’s nuclear industry.
“Destroying buildings and factories will not be a problem for us, we will rebuild them and with greater strength,” the Iranian president told state media.
“Everything is meant to solve problems of people, diseases, public health,” Pezeshkian said, referring to Iran’s nuclear activities.
The comments follow US President Donald Trump’s warning that he would authorize new attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities if Tehran tries to restart facilities the United States bombed in June.
In June, the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Washington said were part of a program aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Tehran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles aimed at Israeli cities.
In July, after the United States announced the ceasefire, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the damage in Iran was “serious and serious”.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes. Back in February, before the strikes, Pezeshkian said Tehran would restore its sites if attacked.
Pezeshkian’s statement came as Oman, Iran’s traditional mediator, called on the two countries on Saturday to resume talks.
“We want to return to negotiations between Iran and the United States,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Sunday that Tehran had “received messages” regarding the resumption of diplomacy, without providing further details.
Oman has hosted five rounds of US-Iranian talks this year. Just three days before the sixth round, Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran has since faced the return of UN sanctions after Britain, Germany and France triggered a “snapback” mechanism over Tehran’s alleged non-compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
In the past, Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised the benefits of Tehran’s “strategic patience” in confronting its enemies. But fears are now growing that patience has given way to paralysis, with Iran’s partners in its self-styled “axis of resistance” devastated and no apparent sign of material support from China or Russia.
“One of the dangers and dangers facing the country is precisely this state of no war or peace, which is unsustainable,” Khamenei himself warned in September.
