Pompeo Not Updated on World Developments: Iran

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has dismissed the recent remarks by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Tehran must stop enriching uranium and import the material instead.

Speaking to Fars News Agency on Saturday, Qassemi said, “We welcome Mr Pompeo to the world of foreign policy and diplomacy. But I believe he has entered [the debate over Iran’s nuclear program] too late and is unaware of international developments.”

“For his information, Iran’s legal right to uranium enrichment has been established and Iran possesses its know-how. So I believe he is not updated on [recent] developments and is repeating words of his defeated predecessors,” he added.

“Such remarks are not understandable either for us or for the world,” Qassemi said, advising Pompeo to read more about the issue.

Pompeo, the newly-appointed top US diplomat, made the remarks in a talk with the state-run US television channel VOA Persian on Thursday.

“… We don’t believe it’s appropriate for Iran to have the capacity to create fissile material, to enrich uranium or have a plutonium facility. If they want a peaceful nuclear energy program, fine, but they could import that material,” he said.

Earlier this month, the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, which placed confidence-building restrictions on Iran’s nuclear work in return for removal of international sanctions.

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