Iran rejects demand to surrender enriched uranium

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said Washington had demanded that Tehran hand over all its enriched uranium in return for a three-month reprieve from sanctions, and he rejected it.

“This is by no means acceptable,” Pezeshkian told reporters in New York before leaving for Tehran.

Iran was set to come under sweeping UN sanctions late Saturday for the first time in a decade — barring an unexpected last-minute breakthrough — after nuclear talks with the West floundered.

The UN nuclear watchdog on Friday said that inspectors had been allowed to return to Iranian sites, but Western powers did not see enough progress to agree to a delay after a week of top-level diplomacy at the UN General Assembly.

European powers set the clock ticking a month ago for the “snapback” of the UN sanctions, accusing Iran of failing to come clean on its nuclear program — including through countermeasures it took in response to Israeli and United States bombing.

Iran on Saturday recalled its envoys in Britain, France and Germany for consultations, after the three European countries triggered the mechanism, Iranian state television said.

The sanctions are set to go into effect at 0000 GMT on Sunday.

They will set up a global ban on working with companies, people and organizations accused of developing Iran’s nuclear program or ballistic missiles.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said there was no reason to reach a deal when, in his view, Israel and the US were seeking to use the pressure to topple the Islamic republic.

“If the goal had been to resolve concerns on the nuclear program, we could easily do that,” Pezeshkian told reporters, as he insisted again that Iran will never pursue nuclear weapons.

Pezeshkian, who met during the week with French President Emmanuel Macron, said France had proposed that Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in return for a one-month delay in the return of sanctions.