Iran says no intention of producing an atomic bomb despite having technical means

• Roshan Amiri
• . August 1, 2022
• . Update: August 1, 2022 6:42 pm
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Iran– Iran said it has no intention of producing an atomic bomb despite having the technical capability. The country has long denied having an interest in nuclear weapons.

Mohammad Eslami, Former Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and the Head of the Atomic Energy Organisation, said on Monday that his country has the technical capability and skills to produce an atomic bomb but has no intention of doing it. He reiterated comments made by Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in July. He further said, “As Kharrazi mentioned, Iran has the technical ability to build an atomic bomb, but such a program is not on the agenda.”

According to the semi-official Fars news agency, the country is already enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, far above a cap of 3.67 per cent set under Iran’s now dilapidated 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

In 2018, former United States President, Donald Trump, removed the US from the nuclear deal.  Under the nuclear pact, Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions. The US also reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran.

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Iran nuclear deal

In 2015, Iran signed a nuclear deal with western countries. This deal lifted most of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. The deal fell apart in 2018 after the exit of the US. In April 2021, the talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal started between Britain, France, Germany, Iran, China, and Russia. The US also took part in the negotiations indirectly.

Earlier in April, Iranian lawmakers set their conditions for the revival of the deal. However, the talks broke down when Iran demanded that Washington should give guarantees that no US president will abandon the deal again.

However, US President Joe Biden cannot promise this to Iran because the nuclear deal is a non-binding political understanding not a legally binding treaty.