Tehran: President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday Iran will not abandon its nuclear rights, including uranium enrichment, reported by the media.
“The rights of the Iranian nation and our national interests are a red line. So are nuclear rights under the framework of international regulations, which include enrichment on Iranian soil,” he said.
His remarks came a day after intensive negotiations with the six world powers — Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany — that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief came to a halt after France objected that proposed measures didn’t go far enough.
Rouhani pleaded for parliament’s backing.
“If we want to succeed in these negotiations, we need the support of the supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and of lawmakers,” he told them.
Khamenei had showed support for Iran’s negotiators but had doubts about the possibility of a breakthrough, citing decades of hostility and mistrust in the West.
Hardliners in Iran also fear that the negotiating team led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would offer too many concessions.
Rouhani said Iran would “not bow to threats from any power”, while also insisting that sanctions battering its ailing economy isn’t the reason for negotiation.
“We have practically and verbally told the negotiating sides that threats, sanctions, humiliation and discrimination will never produce a result,” he said.