TEHRAN — Iran is prepared to accept limits on the scope of its uranium enrichment program but will not agree to end enrichment entirely, a senior Iranian diplomat said, signaling potential space for renewed nuclear negotiations if Western sanctions are lifted, reported by Tasnim News Agency.
“Iran can be flexible on the capacities and limits of enrichment, but cannot agree to stop enrichment under any circumstance because it’s essential, and we need to rely on ourselves, not on empty promises,” Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi told Japan’s Kyodo News on Saturday.
The comments underscore Tehran’s longstanding position that enrichment — the process of refining uranium for use in nuclear power plants or, at higher levels, weapons — is a sovereign right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes.
Ravanchi’s remarks come as indirect diplomacy between Tehran, Washington, and European capitals remains stalled, with U.S. officials demanding significant curbs on Iran’s program in return for sanctions relief. Iran sees those demands as mirroring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “zero enrichment” stance, which it rejects outright.
While Iran has steadily expanded its enrichment to levels approaching weapons-grade since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, officials say they remain open to technical caps on capacity and stockpiles if sanctions are verifiably lifted.
Analysts note that such a position could revive elements of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but mutual mistrust — particularly over U.S. withdrawal from the pact in 2018 — remains a central obstacle.
For now, Tehran’s message is clear: restrictions may be negotiable, but the centrifuges will keep spinning.
