IRAN has vowed to push on with nuclear enrichment – in a stark warning to the west following Trump’s stealth blitz on Tehran’s nuke plants.
The isolated nation vowed to enrich uranium to weapons-grade, even amid the 12-day conflict sparked by fears that the leadership was alarmingly close to acquiring a nuclear warhead.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News that his country would not give up on its nuclear programme.
He added that the US and Israel’s bid to prevent Tehran from developing a nuke was unlikely to pay off.
Such alarming declarations came even though the nation faced the potential of severe international sanctions if they proceeded with the enrichment of uranium for weapons purposes, warned the international community toward the Islamic Republic.
Araghchi said: “We cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists.
“And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride.”
The Foreign Minister also said: “Enrichment is so dear to us.”
Aragchi confirmed that the damage done by Donald Trump’s Operation Midnight Hammer on Iran’s nuclear sites had been “serious”.
But he stopped short of commenting on whether any enriched uranium survived the sophisticated attack.
“Our facilities have been damaged – seriously damaged,” Araghchi said.
“The extent of which is now under evaluation by our atomic energy organisation.”
He did confirm, however, that all enrichment capabilities in Iran had been ceased as a result of the facilities being “seriously damaged”.
Last week, Iran again threatened to ramp up enrichment of its near-weapons-grade uranium – just 24 days after being bombed by the US.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, expressed to Mehr News Agency: “We will never abandon our legitimate right to enrich uranium.”
“Enrichment is a sovereign right that we will continue to pursue based on our national needs.
“Bombing cannot erase this knowledge — it will only come back stronger.”
The 12-day war last month kicked off with Operation Rising Lion, which saw Israel attempting to derail Iran’s nuclear programme by striking Tehran’s enrichment facilities.
The Israelis also orchestrated Operation Red Wedding – which saw 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in a near-simultaneous blitz as Tel Aviv sought to root out the country’s military strength entirely.
Even Iran’s President was reportedly injured during the Israeli bombing campaign – before being bundled out of an emergency hatch.
Masoud Pezeshkian was wounded in the leg and forced to flee a high-profile emergency meeting amid a devastating attack on a secret Iranian underground facility.
Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel, but failed to hit any strategic targets.
Less than a fortnight later, Trump joined the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran with Operation Midnight Hammer.
The US military‘s flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs.
The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant.
The Don celebrated his sophisticated blitz on the Iranian regime – and said that the US bombs went through enemy nuclear sites “like absolute butter”.
Iran, which vowed to hit US military bases across the Middle East, sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base – America’s biggest military station in the region.
But Tehran seemingly cooked up a fake attack after passing warnings to its Qatari allies, which allowed all US service personnel and aircraft to be moved out of harm’s way.Â
Trump dubbed the expected response “weak” before announcing that a ceasefire deal had been reached between the Israelis and Iranians.
