Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the country can enrich uranium to a purity of 90%, which is weapon-grade.
Despite his comments, Rouhani stated that he hopes to restore the 2015 Iran agreement signed by the Obama administration.
The biggest obstacle for Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons is to obtain enough highly enriched uranium to build the core of a nuclear bomb. Iran has not yet tried to make nuclear weapons.
“Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization can enrich uranium to 20% and 60%. If our reactor needs it one day, it can reach a purity of 90%,” Rouhani says.
Rejoining the Iran agreement has always been President Biden’s biggest foreign policy campaign promise. Prior to this, Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the Iranian government and eventually withdrew from the agreement, which intensified tensions with Iran.
Rouhani criticized his government for not allowing him to rejoin the agreement before President-elect Ibrahim Raisi took office on August 5. Rouhani said he “deeply regretted” that he had missed this opportunity.
Ibrahim is described as a “hardliner” and he will ask the Biden administration to make more concessions if a new agreement is to be reached.
One of Rassie’s biggest demands is for the United States to lift sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. He also called Iran’s missile program “non-negotiable.”
The sixth round of negotiations between the two countries ended on June 20, and the next round of negotiations has not yet been determined.
Some Iranian officials said that both sides are making progress.
