Khamenei: Iran not seeking nuclear weapons

Khamenei: Iran not seeking nuclear weapons

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that it will further develop peaceful nuclear capacity to preserve independence, amid negotiations with world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact.

"We will sooner or later need peaceful nuclear energy. If we do not pursue it ... our independence will be harmed," Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a televised speech on Thursday, supporting Tehran's hardline negotiating team in Vienna.

"Diplomatic efforts by our revolutionary brothers in trying to get rid of the sanctions are also good but the main task is to neutralise the sanctions," added Khamenei, referring to far-reaching sanctions reimposed by Trump and still in place.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington have been held in Vienna since April amid fears about Tehran’s nuclear advances, seen by Western powers as irreversible unless agreement is struck soon.

Other parties to the deal, which then U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of in 2018, have been shuttling between Iran and the United Sates. Several sources, including Iranian officials, told Reuters that the next couple of days would be crucial in determining whether gaps could be closed.

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