Russia dismisses US call for Iran to abandon ‘inalienable right’ to nuclear program
Tehran - BORNA - In a post on X on Friday, Mikhail Ulyanov slammed the US for relying on “wrong assumptions” about nuclear non-proliferation.
“Iran is not obliged to abandon its nuclear program. It is Iran’s inalienable right,” Ulyanov said.
“Unfortunately, the position of the Republican administration is based on wrong assumptions of non-proliferation norms and the IAEA activities,” he added.
Ulyanov was responding to US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, who claimed that Iran had “broken the rules” and was enriching uranium to 60 percent with “no credible civilian purpose.”
Iran has maintained a consistent position regarding its peaceful nuclear program since the unprovoked US-Israeli wars of aggression in June 2025 and early 2026.
In both wars, the aggressors targeted Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including nuclear facilities, in flagrant violation of international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Following the first US-Israeli war of aggression, which began amid indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the Iranian Parliament unanimously passed legislation in June 2025 requiring the government to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA.
Under the law, IAEA inspectors will not be permitted to enter Iran unless the security of Iranian nuclear facilities and peaceful nuclear activities is guaranteed, subject to the approval of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
The move was prompted by the IAEA’s politically motivated resolution, which paved the way for the aggression against the Islamic Republic, and the UN nuclear watchdog’s failure to condemn the illegal attacks.
Iran, as a signatory to the NPT, maintains that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful and that there has been no diversion of nuclear material following more than two decades of inspections.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and other senior officials have made clear that neither Iran’s nuclear rights nor its missile capabilities are on the negotiating table.
China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations also called on Thursday for Iran’s “legitimate” right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy to be respected.
“Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy should be respected,” Sun Lei told a meeting of the UN General Assembly on Russia’s and China’s veto of a Washington-backed draft resolution at the Security Council against Iran.
Sun noted that the current situation surrounding Iran’s nuclear program stemmed from the US unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018; its “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic; and its launch of military aggressions while negotiations with Tehran were underway.
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