Iran Will Not Compromise On Financing Rights, Ready To Respond To Attacks

Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz. (WIkimedia Commons/Hamed Saber)

JAKARTA - Iran will not ignore its rights to uranium enrichment due to rising tensions in the region, a senior state official told Reuters on Thursday, adding a "friendly" regional country had warned Tehran of a potential military strike by Israel.

The official said the tension was meant to "incur Tehran to change its position on its nuclear rights" in talks with the United States on Sunday in Oman.

He did not reveal the name of the regional country that warned Iran about the Israeli attack.

"We don't want tensions and prefer diplomacy to solve the (nuclear) issue, but our armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any military offensives," the Iranian official said.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US personnel were being moved from the Middle East because it could be a dangerous place, adding that the United States would not allow Iran to own nuclear weapons.

Tehran and Washington will hold a new round of talks, mediated by Oman officials, in Muscat to complete a decades-long deadlock over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

After five rounds of discussions between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, some obstacles remain.

These obstacles include Iran's rejection of US demands that Tehran commit to halt uranium enrichment. On the other hand, Iran wants the lifting of US sanctions imposed on the country since 2018 after Trump canceled Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six countries during his first term.

At Sunday's meeting in the capital Oman, Iran is expected to submit a counter-proposal against the US's previous proposal to bridge the gap.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the US proposal because it is against Iran's interests, and pledged to continue enrichment on Iranian soil, which Western countries see as a potential pathway to building nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.