Top nuclear official: Iran's decisive action forced West to retreat

Iran's top nuclear official says the country's countermeasures following a bid to pressure Tehran into submission to Western demands have been totally effective, forcing the Europeans and the US to change their language.

Last month, Iran announced it had begun injecting uranium gas into advanced centrifuges and disconnected some of the UN nuclear agency’s cameras monitoring its sites outside the Safeguards Agreement.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said Wednesday that his organization chose its steps "very intelligently and precisely" which proved "completely effective".

"The language used by the Western countries vis-à-vis Iran has changed, and we have the upper hand so to speak," he said. "The result is basically the balance that the country has achieved and now they [the West] simply cannot match Iran's strength in various fields."

The West's anti-Iran resolution in the midst of Vienna talks to revive the nuclear deal and bring the US back to compliance with the accord which it abandoned in 2018 caught the Islamic Republic off guard.

"The Western parties thought that they could bring Iran to its knees with maximum pressure, and to achieve this goal, they had a spectrum of accusations and objections with the aim of preventing progress," Eslami said. "Now their goals as regards Iran's nuclear issue have been defeated."

Iran's disconnecting of the nuclear cameras, the official said, totally changed the discourse and all the fuss against the Islamic Republic, "since the JCPOA cameras which they thought would be available forever as a tool are out of their reach".

Eslami said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is basically an understanding to resolve ambiguities about the activities of the nuclear industry, but the Westerners which have not fulfilled their obligations under the agreement, are now rather threatening Iran.

Tehran, he said, needs to move forward with authority and strength no matter what and achieve its goals with detailed planning.

"It should be noted that the capacity of our organization in creating and using new technologies is very high," Eslami said, adding the more powerfully Iran acts, the fasters the obstacles will be removed.

"The current achievements have empowered the Islamic Republic of Iran and provided a platform to show that Iran is not afraid of America.

"The clear message is that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek permission from anyone to advance its goals and does not need anyone, but it needs to double its efforts in order to increase its share in this field."

SS