Washington. July 18th. INTERFAX - The administration of United States President Joe Biden last month expressed serious concern to Iran about research and development that could be used to produce nuclear weapons, Axios reports, citing knowledgeable sources from the United States and Israel.
According to the interlocutors of the portal, around March, the intelligence services of the United States and Israel received information indicating that Iranian scientists are engaged in computer modeling and research in the field of metallurgy, which can be used to develop nuclear weapons.
"Officials fear that this may be part of Iran's covert efforts to use the period leading up to the US presidential election to advance towards the creation of nuclear weapons," the portal notes.
According to Axios sources, the Biden administration conveyed its concerns to the Iranians a few weeks ago through a third country, as well as through direct channels.
In response, the Iranians explained that there had been no change in policy and they were not working on developing nuclear weapons.
The American official told the portal that the message the United States sent to the Iranians was effective, but added that there are still serious concerns about the Iranian nuclear program.
"We see no signs that Iran is currently taking the key actions that would be necessary to create a testable nuclear device," a U.S. official told Axios.
"We take any nuclear escalation by Iran incredibly seriously. And, as the president has made clear, we are committed to never allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, and we are ready to use all elements of national power to ensure such an outcome," he added.
Earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected accusations by the United States and allies that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at creating nuclear weapons.
In an article published in the Tehran Times, he stated: "I would like to emphasize that Iran's defense doctrine does not include nuclear weapons, and I urge the United States to learn from past miscalculations and adjust its policy accordingly."
He recalled that it was the United States that withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian Nuclear Program (JCPOA) and imposed extraterritorial unilateral sanctions, which "damaged our economy by hundreds of billions of dollars."
In 2015, the "six" international mediators (Great Britain, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, France) and Iran signed the JCPOA, which assumed the lifting of sanctions against Iran in exchange for limiting Tehran's nuclear program. In May 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated unilateral anti-Iranian sanctions. In response, Tehran began to gradually reduce its obligations to limit its nuclear program under the agreement.
US President Joe Biden has declared his readiness to return to the nuclear deal under certain conditions.
