Iran has reasserted its right to uranium enrichment, saying that the United States has come to the conclusion that the right is not up for discussion.
For a decade, there was only one concept in the Wests mind, that there existed a zero enrichment option only, and that Irans capability in uranium enrichment has to be stopped, said Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking to Swiss paper Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
Now, the United States, though belatedly, has come to the conclusion that it would not achieve such a goal, Zarif said, adding that US President Barack Obama had declared that although zero enrichment in Iran had been his dream, he has not been able to attain the objective.
The top Iranian diplomat said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had also noted that the Americans had to accept uranium enrichment in Iran as a fact.
Zarif also referred to the deal clinched between the Islamic Republic and the permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, China, the US, France, Britain - plus Germany in November as a victory for intellectuality, saying that, with this agreement, everyone emerged victorious.
Iran and the six major world powers inked the nuclear accord in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24, 2013. The two sides started implementing the agreement on January 20.
Under the Geneva deal, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for the Islamic Republic agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, including a voluntary suspension of its 20-percent uranium enrichment program.