No need to US permission for nuclear enrichment

A senior Iranian legislator underscored that the country will continue its nuclear program strenuously and doesn’t need the US or any other country’s permission for uranium enrichment. “Iran’s enrichment right has been recognized by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Americans can’t take this right away from us,” Vice-Chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mansour Haqiqatpour told FNA on Monday. He blasted certain western, specially American, officials for their remarks on Tehran’s enrichment program, and stressed that the country doesn’t need permission from Washington in this regard. In relevant remarks, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said that Iran as a signatory to the NPT is entitled to continue uranium enrichment, and will never stop the activity. In an interview with the Dutch daily Trouw earlier this month, Seyed Abbas Araqchi, who is also a senior member of the Iranian negotiating team in talks with the world powers over Tehran's nuclear program, said that the right for peaceful enrichment is the country’s red line and has been enshrined in the Geneva deal recently signed between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany), adding that the negotiating sides now need to agree on the details of the issue. After more than four days of intense negotiations, Iran and the six major world powers, inked an interim deal in Geneva on November 24. After endorsing the agreement with the world powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that the six world powers have recognized Iran’s enrichment program. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, the Iranian foreign minister pointed to the agreement reached between Iran and the G5+1, and said, “Today’s agreement deals with several sectors, the most important of which is that Iran’s enrichment program has been recognized, and this program will continue.”