Iran will not allow any of its enriched nuclear material to leave the country and intends to use it to develop nuclear-powered ships and submarines, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Wednesday.
“We will not allow even one particle of enriched nuclear material to be removed from Iran,” Rezaei told Al-Mayadeen, the Lebanese network aligned with Hezbollah. “We have informed our Russian friends that the enriched material will remain in Iran, and we will use it ourselves.”
He said Iran needs the enriched material to design ships and submarines powered by nuclear energy. According to APA, Rezaei said Tehran had informed Moscow of its decision in advance, in response to a Russian initiative on the issue.
The removal of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile has been a central US demand. Washington has insisted that nuclear issues be part of any initial negotiations to end the war. Rezaei first rejected the idea last month, telling Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran that “not a single particle” would leave Iran.
In the interview, Rezaei dismissed reports that talks with Washington are underway, insisting that the United States must “surrender” to Iran’s seven conditions. He said ending the war “on all fronts,” particularly in Lebanon, is one of Iran’s basic demands.
He also threatened that “any new American attack” would lead Iran to strike US military bases, including more distant ones. He claimed that Iran has advanced electronic warfare capabilities that allow it to take control of US drones and bring them down.
Rezaei, 71, is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He was appointed in August to head the Supreme National Security Council and to serve as Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s representative on the body. He replaced Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who had taken over after Ali Larijani was killed in an airstrike in March.
His remarks came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there is no need for major combat operations against Iran, because the US naval blockade and sanctions are “doing devastation” to its economy. Rubio called Iran’s conditions for a deal “absurd.”
