Oman hosted five US-Iran talks; Israel strikes Iranian nuclear sites days before sixth round
A view of Iranian centrifuges in an unknown facility. PHOTO: FRONT PAGE OF IRAN WEBSITE
Iran said on Sunday it would rebuild nuclear sites damaged by Israeli and US strikes “stronger than before”, as mediator Oman urged Tehran and Washington to revive stalled diplomacy.
US President Donald Trump said the strikes destroyed Iran’s nuclear program, but the full extent of the damage remains unknown.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, during a visit to the country’s nuclear organization, said Tehran “will build (the destroyed sites) stronger than before.”
“By destroying buildings… we will not back down,” he said in a video posted on his official website, adding that Iranian scientists still had the necessary nuclear know-how.
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Pezeshkian did not provide further details. In similar remarks in February, before the strikes, he said Tehran would rebuild its sites if they were attacked.
Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran in June, sparking a 12-day war that saw it target nuclear and military facilities – as well as residential areas – and kill numerous top scientists.
Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israeli cities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in July, after the United States announced a halt to fighting, that the damage in Iran was “serious and severe.”
Pezeshkian’s comments come as Oman, Iran’s traditional intermediary, on Saturday urged the two countries to resume negotiations.
“We want to return to negotiations between Iran (and) the United States,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Sunday that Tehran “has received messages” about resuming diplomacy, without providing further details.
Oman has hosted five rounds of negotiations between the United States and Iran this year. Just three days before the sixth round, Israel launched its strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran has since faced the return of UN sanctions after Britain, Germany and France triggered the “snapback” mechanism over Tehran’s alleged non-compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Some religious groups pressured Trump to renew the designation in a letter last month, according to a copy posted on the Hudson Institute think tank’s website.
“Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical religious extremists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote without elaborating. He also asked the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee to investigate.
