In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen on Sunday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country’s nuclear programme remains “intact” despite heavy damage from the US and Israeli attacks earlier this year.
Khatibzadeh said that Iran’s “peaceful nuclear program is intact” and pledged that the country would continue to protect it.
His comments come months after a 12-day war between Israel and Iran back in June, and after US airstrikes targeted three key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
US President Donald Trump had claimed that Fordow had been “obliterated.”
Early US intelligence reports said the strikes caused severe damage but may have set Iran’s program back by only two years.
Khatibzadeh acknowledged that the attacks “ruined many of our infrastructure, machineries” and destroyed several buildings.
However, he insisted that Iran’s nuclear capabilities are “based on our indigenous knowledge” and spread throughout a country of 90 million people.
He said Iran is not a nation that can be bombed into losing all its nuclear assets.
His comments came after Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told a news conference on Sunday that no uranium enrichment was taking place “right now” as the facilities had been attacked.
Uranium enrichment is used to produce fuel for reactors, but can also be used to create nuclear weapons if refined to higher levels.
Khatibzadeh would not confirm whether enrichment had resumed at any site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a confidential report last week that it has not been allowed to check Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium for months.
Inspectors have not been granted access to the bombed sites, according to Reuters.
Khatibzadeh repeated Iran’s long-standing position that the nuclear program is peaceful and exists only to generate energy.
He added that any future talks with the United States must accept Iran’s right to enrich uranium, dismissing what he called “delusions of zero enrichment inside Iran.”
Satellite images from June showed construction equipment at the Fordow facility, where US strikes caused major damage.
Analysts believe that Iran is working to repair and rebuild the site.
Khatibzadeh also defended Iran’s broader military activities, telling reporters Tehran has “legitimate military programs” aimed at ensuring national security.
Asked whether Iran is expanding its missile program, he said the system was undergoing “repair and recovery” after the June ceasefire.
CNN reported last month that Iran appears to be rebuilding its ballistic missile program, despite renewed United Nations sanctions banning missile activity.
European intelligence sources said Chinese companies have been helping Iran, including by shipping sodium perchlorate, a missile propellant precursor, from China to Iran since late September.
Khatibzadeh said Iran maintains “very close relations” with China and Russia, claiming those ties pre-date recent tensions.
He concluded the interview with a message for Washington: he described Iran as the “oldest living, continuous civilization on earth” and said the country is a “master of survival.”