Iran's nuclear reactor in Bushehr, near the Persian Gulf
Iran’s top nuclear official said global powers are determined to block technological advancements by other nations, arguing that they see nuclear energy as their exclusive domain.
“Foreign disputes over Tehran’s nuclear program and cases of industrial sabotage stem from resistance to Iran’s scientific progress,” Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on Tuesday.
Eslami added that Iran has had a growth in the heavy water industry and plan to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2041. He also cited medical advancements made possible by nuclear technology, calling them a national achievement.
Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, but Israel has long contended that a bomb in the hands of its arch-enemy poses an existential threat.
Tehran is working on the production of solid-fuel, nuclear-capable missiles at the Shahroud facility in northeastern Iran, the group said at a press conference in Washington, citing what it called sources inside the country without elaborating.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised alarm about Iran's uranium enrichment levels reaching 60%—a purity that can be rapidly enhanced to weapons-grade.
Western governments argue there is no civilian need for enrichment at such levels.
From 2007 to 2010, several UN Security Council resolutions slammed Iran's nuclear pursuits and imposed sanctions.
Iran has recently carried out military exercises intended to enhance security at key nuclear sites, including Natanz and Fordow, as Israel has again mooted military intervention as a viable option to quash Iran's nuclear ambitions.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are likely to step up pressure on Iran as tensions over its nuclear program comes to a head, Republican senators told Iran International on Tuesday.
The two leaders are due to meet in the White House on Tuesday, in Trump's first meeting with a foreign head of state in his second term.
Trump in the first hours of his new term credited Israel with badly weakening Iran over the course of a 15-month conflict in the region.
"I hope to see maximum pressure on Iran, cutting off their oil revenues and doing everything we can to stop the Ayatollah," Texas senator Ted Cruz told Iran International when asked about his expectation from the Trump-Netanyahu meeting.
Ahead of the talks, Trump signed a directive restoring his so-called "maximum pressure" strategy on Iran from his first term.
Long opposed to foreign wars, Trump has nevertheless adopted a hard line on Iran, saying Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon but also suggesting Washington should not pursue regime change.
After signing the memorandum, Trump said he hoped he would not have to follow through on the memorandum. "We will see if we can work out a deal with Iran," he said, adding he would reach out to Tehran and hold talks with his Iranian counterpart - without specifying whom - to convince Iran to give up what Washington sees as moves toward a nuclear bomb.
"There isn't a person walking in these halls including Democrats that would be for the number one sponsor of terror in the world, the Iranians, having a nuclear weapon," Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin told Iran International.
Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, but Israel has long contended that a bomb in the hands of its arch-enemy poses an existential threat.
"There is no way. They should never have it. You can't trust what they say, so even diplomacy doesn't work. You have to touch their wallet where they can't afford to build it," Mullin added, referring to economic pressure.
"Obviously, we're not for Iran getting nuclear weapons," Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville said. "I think it'd be disastrous not just for us, but for them as it puts them as a target ... you've got to be able to control them," he added.
Within the span of 24 hours, confusion has emerged in Iran over who is leading any potential nuclear negotiations, even as the president and senior officials press for talks with Washington.
In what appears to be a brewing turf war, former security chief Ali Shamkhani and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration are publicly asserting their control over the nuclear file and potential negotiations with Washington.
First, the state-run IRNA news agency and the government’s information office on Monday, both controlled by the presidential administration, referred to Shamkhani, the former head of the Supreme National Security Council, as overseeing the nuclear file while reporting on his visit to a nuclear exhibition.
The following day, the Rouydad24 news website, not under direct state control, quoted the foreign ministry’s information office in an article stating that the ministry remains in charge of all negotiations related to Iran’s nuclear issue.
"The responsibility for conducting talks and negotiations on the nuclear issue remains with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as before. This process is managed by the honorable minister and carried out by the political and international legal departments. Naturally, the formulation of negotiation strategies and coordination between relevant institutions continues to be handled by the Supreme National Security Council," Rouydad24's report quoted the foreign ministry.
Some experts would interpret this statement as reflecting the foreign ministry’s view that it should lead the nuclear negotiations, while the national security council should set broader policies and potentially determine the key issues and parameters of the talks.
The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) is Iran's principal decision-making body on national security issues, which includes defense, foreign policy, and intelligence matters.
In December 2024, Ali Shamkhani, who served as secretary of the SNSC from 2013 to 2023, declared himself a key decision-maker on Iran's global strategy and nuclear diplomacy.
"I have been entrusted with the project of determining Iran's position in the global order," he said at the time, after having left the SNSC.
Shamkhani's statement, many experts would ascertain, likely came with the Supreme Leader's approval.
The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, insists that there has been no change in the leadership of nuclear negotiations. While the SNSC sets overall policy, the ministry remains responsible for conducting nuclear diplomacy.
Previously, government's spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani had seemingly rejected the notion that Shamkhani would be at the helm of nuclear negotiations, saying, "Ask the Atomic Energy Organization who is responsible for the nuclear file."
In the face of such contradiction, Iran experts may view Shamkhani as a representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on major foreign policy matters—given that Khamenei is the ultimate authority in the country.
It is unlikely, however, that the presidential administration or Shamkhani himself would publicly acknowledge this.
The United States is convinced that a secret team of scientists in Iran is exploring a faster way to develop a nuclear weapon - within months - should Tehran decide to build one, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Iranian engineers and scientists are seeking to be able to turn nuclear fuel into a weapon within months rather than a year or more, the report said citing intelligence collected in the last months of the Biden administration.
The report cited US officials as saying Washington still believes that Iran and its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had not made a decision to develop a weapon.
In December, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration was concerned that a weakened Iran could build a nuclear weapon and that he was briefing President-elect Donald Trump's team on the risk.
The Biden administration's intelligence assessment has been relayed to Trump’s national security team during the transition of power, the New York Times added.
The report was released as the relatively moderate president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, has publicly expressed willingness to re-engage with the United States in talks over its nuclear program, which it says is for peaceful purposes.
Setbacks dealt to Iran and its regional allies in a 15-month conflict with Israel and the inability of Iranian missiles to pierce US and Israeli air defenses, the New York Times reported, galvanized Iran to to seek new ways to deter its adversaries.
On January 10, then-CIA Director William Burns suggested that Iran’s weakened strategic position marked by regional setbacks could open the door to renewed nuclear negotiations.
"That sense of weakness could also theoretically create a possibility for serious negotiations," Burns said in an interview with NPR, referencing his experience with secret talks involving Tehran more than a decade ago.
Last month, Trump, Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all described Iran as weakened, citing Tehran's reduced influence following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Israeli attacks on its air defenses and the killing of leaders of its armed Palestinian and Lebanese allies.
However, Iran's Supreme Leader denied his country's power has been undermined. "That delusional fantasist claimed that Iran has been weakened. The future will reveal who has truly been weakened."
The Islamic Republic has long ruled out developing nuclear weapons, a top political advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said, in dovish remarks pointing to a potential openness to reviving talks with the United States.
"Iran has never sought nuclear weapons and never will," said Ali Shamkhani during a visit to the Atomic Energy Organization in Tehran on Monday.
"However, we will fully defend our legal rights in political and technical aspects with all our strength," the former security chief added.
Western powers say Tehran's expansion of its nuclear program lacks any credible peaceful purpose.
As economic malaise in Iran has deepened, renewed talks with the United States over the disputed nuclear program are widely viewed as the best avenue to ease sanctions.
Iran maintains that it will not pursue nuclear weapons, citing a long-standing fatwa or religious edict by Khamenei banning all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms.
In an October 2019 speech, Khamenei said that building and maintaining nuclear weapons is "absolutely haram," meaning strictly forbidden under Islamic law.
However, analysts argue that the fatwa is merely an advisory opinion rather than a binding legal decree. They say it was intended to mislead the international community about the true intentions of a nuclear program that Tehran insists is peaceful.
Kamal Kharrazi, a senior foreign policy advisor to Khamenei, said last year that Iran has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons and an existential threat could prompt a reconsideration of the Supreme Leader’s injunction.
Iranian authorities have consistently asserted that the country's nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.
However, Western powers and independent nuclear experts argue that the levels and quantities of enrichment undertaken by Iran since 2021 go far beyond those needed for energy or scientific research purposes.
"Iran continues to develop its nuclear program to levels that lack any credible civilian justification," France, Britain and Germany said in a joint statement to the United Nations in December.
The costs of Iran’s nuclear program are negligible compared to the achievement of gaining nuclear technology despite sanctions, the country’s atomic energy chief said on Sunday.
"We shouldn’t focus on weighing costs against benefits. While we are paying a heavy price due to sanctions, the emphasis is not on the costs," said Mohammad Eslami, an Iranian vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization.
When asked by a state TV interviewer to explain how the expenses are justified, he underscored the importance of acquiring advanced technology that so-called arrogant global powers seek to deny other nations, particularly Iran.
Eslami argued that evaluating the program’s costs and benefits should occur only after what he described as the required technological capabilities were achieved.
“We are now on this path. We’ve reached a stage where we can apply nuclear technology in various fields,” he added.
He maintained that Iran’s nuclear program is transparent and peaceful, accusing critics of using it to fuel what he called Iranophobia internationally.
Eslami's remarks came after Ali Larijani, an advisor to the Supreme Leader, signaled a softer stance on Iran’s nuclear program, calling it vital but stressing that it should not overshadow broader progress as “people must live their lives.”
The nuclear program is a pillar of our development, but not its entirety, he said on Saturday, stressing that despite his direct role in past negotiations, its scope must remain within defined limits.
"The nuclear issue is part of our national strength, but it is not all of it. People must live their lives, and progress must be achieved in various fields. The nuclear agreement [JCPOA] preserved nuclear knowledge, ensuring its continuation, but reduced the number of centrifuges from 9,000 to 5,000," Larijani, who is considered a moderate conservative in the Islamic Republic's political spectrum, argued.
Iran has faced ongoing electricity and gas shortages due to underinvestment and the impact of US-led sanctions which have hindered modernization efforts in its power, oil and gas sectors.
Iran’s leadership has been wrestling with the idea of re-engaging with Washington over the nuclear program in order to reduce US economic sanctions.
Iran's nuclear program: costs vs benefits
On January 23, Eslami highlighted the economic benefits of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, saying it cost $1.8 billion but has supplied 70 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to the grid in more than a decade. He estimated that producing the same amount of energy from fossil fuels would have cost $8 billion. However, government data shows that the reactor produces just 2% of Iran's annual electricity needs.
Critics argue the program’s costs outweigh its benefits.
Outspoken reformist commentator Sadegh Zibakalam criticized the nuclear program in a post on X on January 23, questioning its value.
“Mr. Zarif says we had no intention of producing nuclear weapons and could have built them if we wanted. So why incur such enormous costs for over 20 years?” he wrote. Zibakalam also cited unfulfilled promises to build five nuclear plants comparable to Bushehr.
In a letter to hardline lawmaker Hamid Rasaei in February 2023, Zibakalam argued that Iran could procure fuel for its Bushehr power plant through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Not only does our insistence on producing nuclear fuel domestically have no economic justification due to its high cost, but also other things like speaking of 'our proud nuclear achievements' are one-sided and exaggerated.”
Since US President Donald Trump imposed what he called maximum pressure sanctions in his first term starting in 2018, Iran’s national currency has depreciated nearly 20-fold, and inflation has surged to 40%.
The sanctions severely disrupted the economy, particularly in the banking, trade, transportation and insurance sectors.
Sanctions have severely disrupted multiple sectors of Iran’s economy, particularly international trade, which has been hit hard by rising costs in banking, transportation, shipping, and insurance.
In a recent state-run television program, Saeed-Reza Ameli, former secretary of Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, said sanctions have cost the Iranian economy $1.2 trillion over the past 12 years.
Economist Vahid Shaghaghi-Shahri echoed similar concerns in an interview with the Etemad newspaper last week, saying Iran’s gross domestic product has shrunk from $640 billion to $400 billion over the same period.
Without sanctions, he estimated, the economy could have grown to $1 trillion.
