Tehran will rebuild its nuclear facilities “with greater power,” Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, told state media on Sunday, adding that the country was not seeking a nuclear weapon.
US President Donald Trump has warned that he would order fresh attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites should Tehran try to restart facilities that America had bombed in June.
Pezeshkian made his comments during a visit to the country’s Atomic Energy Organization, during which he met with senior management from Iran’s nuclear industry.
Tehran claims program for civilian purposes
“Destroying buildings and factories will not create a problem for us; we will rebuild with greater strength,” the Iranian president told state media.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.
“It’s all intended for solving the problems of the people, for disease, for the health of the people,” Pezeshkian said in reference to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities.
Israel “obliterated” the nuclear infrastructure it targeted in Operation Rising Lion in June, according to Yossi Cohen, the Mossad’s former director.
Cohen said that he was sure that “Iran cannot enrich any more uranium these days.”
In June, Trump said at a press conference that all the enriched uranium the Islamic Republic had was inside sites bombed during the operation, calling Iran’s nuclear program “completely and totally obliterated.”
At the time, the US president said he was unsure if America needed to make a deal with Iran at all due to the levels of destruction at the Iranian nuclear facilities.
'Keep dreaming,' Ayatollah tells Trump
However, in October, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US had not destroyed Iran’s atomic industry, adding that Trump should “keep on dreaming.”
Iran has recently scrapped a cooperation deal it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani announced that same day, according to state media.
This announcement came after the US announced its intentions to resume its own nuclear weapons testing on Thursday, with Iranian officials condemning the decision.