TEHRAN- The idea that Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons has been completely refuted by President Ebrahim Raisi, who also said that high-level enrichment was a response to the West flouting its agreements.

Raisi made the statement in an interview with the CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

The president also said that Iran’s uranium was enriched to a purity level of 60% in reaction to the European parties’ lack of commitment to the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He went on to add, “In the beginning, we were not seeking 60% levels of enrichment. European states trampled upon their commitments.”

“What the Islamic Republic of Iran did was in response to a breaking of commitment of the signatories to the 2015 agreement,” the president averred. 

In another part of the interview, Raisi categorically said the country’s enrichment of uranium is “not intended to reach nuclear weapons of any type or a military dimension of any type, but it is... a response to the lack of commitment demonstrated by the Europeans.”

He also restated Tehran’s long-held belief that the Islamic Republic has no intention of acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Raisi also told CNN that U.S.-mediated efforts to improve Israeli relations with Persian Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, “will fail.”

Following U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s discussions with Saudi officials in Jeddah, President Biden announced on July 28 that an agreement to repair relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be on the horizon.

In order to reach an agreement with Israel, Riyadh openly requested that Tel Aviv first implement the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.