Iran not to accept pause in its right to nuclear enrichment

TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA) – A senior Iranian diplomat has stressed that Tehran stands firm on its right to nuclear enrichment as a red line, adding that the country will not accept a pause in its enrichment.

News ID: ۲۰۰۱۲۹۷

17 May 2025

EghtesadOnline: Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, wrote on his X page in reaction to some media claims about Iran's probable acceptance of stopping enrichment in exchange for lifting of sanctions, saying that "Our negotiating parties know very well that the Islamic Republic of Iran will never compromise the achievement it has obtained with the blood of martyrs and after paying a huge cost."

"The right to enrich is our definite red line! No halt to enrichment will be acceptable to us," he added to underscore in his Persian X on Friday, after attending another round of talks with the European troika (three major European powers namely Germany, France and the United Kingdom) was held in Iran's Consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Friday.

Iran has always said, despite all animosity towards the country on the part of the Western states, it will never seek nuclear weapons and will continue its peaceful nuclear program despite all pressures.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that his country has never sought to acquire nuclear weapons, nor will it seek to do so in the future.

Pezeshkian said that Tehran is holding talks with the United States on its nuclear program "because we want peace and do not seek war."