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Iran ‘ready to return to pre-nuke deal era’: Official

May 22, 2018 at 7:15 pm

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.

An Iranian official on Tuesday said that his country had made all necessary preparations to resume production of highly-enriched uranium, according to local media reports.

The semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, as saying that Iran was ready to return to the “pre-nuclear deal era”.

“We are ready to return to the pre-nuclear deal era and produce highly-enriched uranium if necessary,” he said.

He added: “But I hope we never need it.”

On the same day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a lengthy list of demands that the US wants to include in a new nuclear deal with Iran.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of a landmark 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

Trump’s decision had faced stiff opposition from most other members of the P5+1.