DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected initial offers at talks in Vienna to save Tehran’s torn nuclear deal as ‘not worth it’, trying to pressure global powers after an attack on the country’s main nuclear enrichment site.
The remarks of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all affairs of state in the Islamic Republic, came after a day when the Iranian president similarly increased pressure on the accord. European powers, meanwhile, warned Tehran that its actions were “particularly regrettable” and “dangerous”.
The talks have already been confused by a weekend attack on Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz, believed to have been carried out by Israel. Tehran retaliated by announcing it would enrich uranium up to 60% – higher than ever before, but still lower than its 90% weapons.
“The offers they offer are usually arrogant and demeaning (and) not worth watching,” said 81-year-old Khamenei in a speech on the first day of the holy Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in Iran.
He also criticized the US and warned that time could be running out.
“The talks must not become a war of attrition,” said Khamenei. “They should not be such that parties drag on and extend the talks. This is harmful to the country. ”
Speaking to his cabinet, a passionate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges damaged in Sunday’s attack would be replaced with advanced IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium much faster.
“You wanted to empty our hands during the talks, but our hands are full,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani added, “60% fortification is a response to your badness. … we cut both your hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges and another with 60%. “
Rouhani also accused Israel of being behind the attack in Natanz and threatened to retaliate.
During a memorial day in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be referring to Iran.
“We must never remain apathetic to the threat of war and the extermination of those who try to eliminate us,” he said. Israel has not claimed the attack, although this is rarely the case in its ongoing shadow war against Tehran.
The talks in Vienna aim to find a way for the United States to rejoin the Tehran nuclear deal with world powers and bring Iran back to its borders. The accord, from which former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US in 2018, prevented Iran from building enough highly enriched uranium to be able to use a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Late Wednesday, the European Union said formal negotiations would resume in Vienna on Thursday.
Rouhani stressed in his comments on Wednesday that Iran still hopes that the talks in Vienna will lead to a negotiated settlement of its program – and the associated lifting of criminal sanctions. Khamenei also said he believed in his negotiators, but kept the pressure on the West high in his comments on Wednesday evening.
“They have to do what we say first, and we are sure it is done, then we will do what we have to do,” he said.
France, Germany and the UK, all parties to the nuclear deal, issued a joint statement just hours earlier on Wednesday expressing “grave concern” over Iran’s decision to increase enrichment.
“This is a serious development as the production of highly enriched uranium is an important step in the production of a nuclear weapon,” said the countries. “Iran has no credible civil need for enrichment at this level.”
China and Russia also participated in the deal.
Saudi Arabia, a regional rival of Iran, similarly made a statement saying that enrichment at that level “cannot be viewed as a program intended for peaceful purposes.” It called on Iran to “avoid escalation”.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say that Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. the main nuclear weapons development activities that we believe are necessary to produce a nuclear device. “
Iran had previously said it could use up to 60% enriched uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic does not currently have such ships in its navy.
Iran had enriched up to 20% – even that was a short technical step to a weapon quality level. The deal limited Iran’s fortification to 3.76%
Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, posted a letter online to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warning against “any adventure by (the) Israeli regime” against Iranian nuclear sites.
“The most recent cowardly act of nuclear terrorism will only strengthen our determination to march forward and replace all (damaged) centrifuges with even more sophisticated and sophisticated machines,” Gharibabadi wrote.
IAEA inspectors visited Natanz on their maiden voyage since the sabotage on Wednesday and found that Iran was preparing an above-ground area for the higher enrichment, the agency said.
Iran “has almost prepared to start producing (uranium gas) enriched to 60%,” the IAEA said in a later statement. “Iran has informed the agency that the necessary piping has been completed and that the supply of (uranium gas) enriched up to 5% in a cascade of IR-6 centrifuges would begin shortly thereafter.”
The weekend attack in Natanz was initially described only as a blackout in the power grid that powers above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls – but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the harsh head of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred in a state television interview to “several thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed”. However, no other official has offered that figure, and no images of the aftermath have been released.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs Inc. from Natanz, taken on Wednesday and analyzed by The Associated Press, showed no visible damage above ground at the facility.
Associated Press Writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; David Rising in Berlin and Malak Harb in Dubai, UAE contributed to this report.