Cleric says Iran won’t back down on nuclear enrichment

A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday that dismantling the country's uranium enrichment infrastructure would be a national humiliation and urged the United States to accept Iran’s right to low-level enrichment.

“No rational nation would accept the humiliation of dismantling its centrifuges,” said Hassan Ameli, the Supreme Leader’s representative in Ardabil province, during Friday prayers, according to Iranian state media.

He said low-level enrichment to meet medical and industrial needs posed no threat and was “far removed from any link to nuclear weapons.” If the United States accepted enrichment at that level, Ameli added, the nuclear dispute could be fully resolved.

Ameli also said Iran was willing to export enriched uranium to a country chosen by the other side as a gesture of compromise, and warned that rejecting such concessions suggests a broader effort to deny Iran scientific and technological independence.

Afshin Pirnoon, a former director general in Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, was brought before the board as the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) argued he should be deported due to his role in the Iranian government.

Pirnoon, 49, arrived in Canada in 2022 and has since worked as an Uber driver while seeking refugee status.

Photos published on Iranian government websites show Pirnoon attending official events and speaking at public meetings alongside political and religious leaders. He has denied holding decision-making authority and said his work as a road safety expert was aimed at saving lives.

“Whatever I’ve done in my life so far was to safeguard human beings’ lives,” Pirnoon said at the hearing, according to Global News. “Working for a government does not mean supporting it.”

The hearing is one of several under a 2022 Canadian policy aimed at barring or expelling former Iranian officials accused of rights abuses or ties to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. While immigration authorities have investigated dozens of individuals, only one deportation has been completed so far, with others leaving voluntarily.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday to discuss "cooperation over Iran’s peaceful nuclear program", Iranian state media reported.

The two also exchanged views on the latest status of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, the report said. No further details were provided.

A senior Iranian nuclear official has responded to recent comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying his statement about uranium enrichment was incorrect.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said that several countries enrich uranium without possessing nuclear weapons. “Countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, and Germany conduct uranium enrichment and do not have nuclear weapons,” he told Iranian media.

“It is unfortunate that the US secretary of state made such a statement without proper knowledge,” Kamalvandi said.

Rubio said last week, “The only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons,” in remarks that drew criticism in Tehran.