Iran defies US threats to insist on the right to enrich uranium

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday ruled out Tehran ever giving up uranium enrichment in its negotiations with Washington, insisting it will not be intimidated by the threat of war with the United States.

The minister, Abbas Araghchi, told a forum in Tehran attended by AFP that Tehran had little trust in Washington and even doubted that the U.S. side was taking renewed negotiations seriously.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up, even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behaviour," Araghchi said.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," he said, referring to the arrival of an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Arabian Sea.

The United States and Iran reopened negotiations on Friday, for the first time in years, in Oman.

Iran is seeking to have U.S. economic sanctions on the country lifted, in exchange for what Araghchi said at the forum could be "a series of confidence-building measures concerning the nuclear programme."

Western countries and Israel, thought to be the Middle East's only country with nuclear weapons, say Iran is seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb, which the Islamic Republic denies.

"They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not looking for one. Our atomic bomb is the power to say 'no' to the great powers," Araghchi said.

AFP