Iran says will rebuild nuclear facilities if attacked

Iran says will rebuild nuclear facilities if attacked
by AFP Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Feb 13, 2025
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday said his country would rebuild its nuclear facilities if attacked, following US media reports that Israel was likely to launch a strike on key Iranian nuclear sites.

"They are threatening us that they will attack our Natanz nuclear facility. Come and attack it. It is the brains of our children that built it," Pezeshkian said during a visit to the southern province of Bushehr.

"If you destroy a hundred (nuclear facilities), our children will build a thousand," he said, without directly referring to the US reports.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing US intelligence, that Israel was "likely to attempt a strike on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025".

The report referred to "two potential strike options, each involving the United States providing support in the form of aerial refuelling as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance".

The Wall Street Journal had earlier carried a similar report.

The reports came as tensions soared after US President Donald Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy over allegations that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently denied the allegations.

At the same time, Trump called for striking a deal with Iran.

"I would like a deal done with Iran on non-nuclear. I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of it," Trump told the New York Post on Friday, adding: "If we made the deal, Israel wouldn't bomb them."

Iran and Israel traded direct attacks last year for the first time against the backdrop of soaring regional tensions triggered by the Gaza war.

On October 26, Israel bombed military sites in Iran, killing four servicemen, in response to an October 1 barrage of about 200 missiles from Iran.

Some analysts say Israel inflicted severe damage on Iranian air defences and missile capacities and could yet launch more wide-scale action against the Islamic republic, while Iran denied any major damage to its facilities.

On April 13, Iran sent drones and missiles in Israel, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 attack on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.

Iran's UN mission slams 'reckless' Trump remarks on nuclear deal
Tehran (AFP) Feb 11, 2025 - Iran's mission to the United Nations condemned on Tuesday remarks made by President Donald Trump suggesting stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons could be achieved either "with bombs" or a deal.

In an interview broadcast on Monday by Fox News, Trump said he believed there were two ways of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, "with bombs or with a written piece of paper".

"I'd much rather do a deal that's not gonna hurt them," he said, adding that "I'd love to make a deal with them without bombing them."

On Tuesday, Iran submitted a letter to the UN Security Council to register its protest against what it called Trump's "deeply alarming and irresponsible remarks".

"These reckless and inflammatory statements flagrantly violate international law and the UN Charter, particularly Article 2(4), which prohibits threats or use of force against sovereign states," said Iran's head of mission Saeed Iravani in the letter published by the official IRNA news agency.

He further warned that "any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the United States will bear full responsibility."

Trump's remarks came amid renewed tensions after he reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy against Iran over concerns the country was seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.

In the letter, Iravani also condemned the policy saying it "reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and escalates hostility against Iran"

During Trump's first term, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal that had imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Tehran continued to adhere to the deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began rolling back its commitments.

Efforts to revive the 2015 deal have since faltered.

On Friday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there should not be negotiations with the United States, after Trump suggested striking a "verified nuclear peace agreement" with Iran.

"No problem will be solved by negotiating with America," he said, citing previous "experience".