Iran Defies Trump on Nuclear Program
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said his country will not abandon its nuclear program and that it must now rethink how to protect its facilities after strikes by Israel and the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran will never rebuild its nuclear facilities and that his country's strikes had caused them "monumental damage". He said the U.S. will not allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb.
Araghchi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the nuclear program was transparent and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and that Iran had shown its commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty—but that still was not enough to protect it.
The top Iranian diplomat said the attacks will have "serious and profound effects on the course of the nuclear program," adding: "We need to rethink how we protect our nuclear facilities."
Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes. But it had stockpiles of uranium enriched to a level close to that required for nuclear weapons, and well beyond what is necessary for energy.
Israel accused Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, an ambition that it said was months or even weeks away from fruition if the leadership in Tehran gave the order to do so.
U.S. intelligence assessments led to similar conclusions, but did not see the Iranian nuclear weapons program as active.
This is a developing story. Updates to follow.
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