Iran’s nuclear sites have been “severely damaged” following military strikes by the United States, according to the country’s president. Masoud Pezeshkian called the US strikes “illegal”, claiming that his country never aimed to create a nuclear bomb in an interview with political commentator Tucker Carlson. The US carried out successful airstrikes targeting the crucial Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities last month.
Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, added that damage had been sustained but the programme was not wiped out entirely. He said the assault on the subterranean sections of the Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment plants, and the Isfahan uranium conversion facility, “inflicted heavy damage but did not eliminate the programme”.
Pezeshkian said Iran is prepared to restart discussions on verifying its nuclear programme after pausing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the wake of the Israeli and US strikes.
He stated that Israeli aggression had “torpedoed” the negotiations Iran was conducting with the US, but affirmed Iran’s readiness to allow supervision over its nuclear programme.
The president admitted that the US attacks had inflicted damage on numerous pieces of equipment and facilities, leaving them inaccessible.
He said: “We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations. There is a condition … For restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again?
“We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”
He also alleged that Israel had attempted to assassinate him by bombing a location where he was in a meeting, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
Pezeshkian told Carlson: “They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed … It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel.
“I was in a meeting … They tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting.”
Donald Trump has previously acknowledged that Israel had a plan to assassinate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but it was ultimately prevented.
