Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Iran Refuses to Discuss Suspension of Nuclear Program

Iran would refuse to discuss any suspension of its uranium enrichment activities during talks with six world powers over its nuclear program that opened in Istanbul on Friday, a senior Iranian official said.

“We will not allow any talks linked to freezing or suspending of Iran’s enrichment activities to be discussed at the meeting in Istanbul,” Massoud Zohrevand, a senior official in the Iranian delegation said.

“So far this issue has not been discussed, has not been raised or mentioned by the other party,” Zohrevand said, adding, “Iran’s nuclear rights cannot be discussed.”

Zohrevand’s comments came as a statement released by Iran’s National Security Council released earlier Friday indicated Tehran’s satisfaction with concurrent P5+1 nuclear talks, applauding what they call a “positive atmosphere.”

The statement was issued after the first two-hour session on Friday morning. The talks are due to resume later in the afternoon and continue through Saturday.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is Secretary General of the National Security Council.

Iran and six world powers sought Friday to find common ground at talks jeopardized by Tehran’s refusal to discuss demands that it curb nuclear activities that could manufacture the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

The two sides sat down with no sign that they were ready to budge from widely differing positions revealed after a first round of talks in Geneva last month.

While the six would like to kickstart talks focused at freezing Iran’s uranium enrichment program, Tehran has repeatedly said that activity is not up for discussion. Instead, Iranian officials are pushing an agenda that covers just about everything except its nuclear program: global disarmament, Israel’s suspected nuclear arsenal, and Tehran’s concerns about U.S. military bases in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

We want to discuss the fundamental problems of global politics at Istanbul talks, Jalili said, while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested any push to restrict the meeting to Iran’s nuclear program would fail.

“They employed all their might and tried hard to prevent Iran from going nuclear,” Iranian state TV quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. “But Iran went nuclear and there will be no way back.”

A diplomat familiar with the talks says the six powers will seek to nudge Iran toward acknowledging the need to reduce worries that the Islamic Republic might turn its enrichment program to making weapons. He asked for anonymity because the talks are closed.

Read More

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.