Iran's president on Sunday pledged to rebuild nuclear sites damaged by Israeli and US strikes “with greater strength”, as Oman called for a return to diplomacy.
US President Donald Trump has said the strikes obliterated Iran's nuclear programme, but the true extent of the damage remains unclear.
“Destroying buildings and factories will not create a problem for us, we will rebuild and with greater strength,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state media. He made the comments during a visit to the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, where he met senior figures in Iran’s nuclear industry.
Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran in June, kicking off a 12-day war in which it attacked nuclear and military sites – as well as residential areas – and killed many top scientists. Iran retaliated with ballistic missile barrages aimed at Israeli cities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in July, after the US announced a halt in fighting, that the damage in Iran was “serious and severe”.
But “by destroying buildings … we will not be set back”, Mr Pezeshkian said in a video posted to his official website. He added that Iranian scientists still had the necessary nuclear know-how.
In similar remarks in February before the strikes, he said Tehran would rebuild its sites if they came under attack. Mr Pezeshkian also repeated Iran's position that it does not seek to have nuclear weapons.
“We have repeatedly stated that building nuclear weapons is not on our agenda – and they know this – yet they use this false claim as a pretext to hinder Iran’s progress,” he said.
Mr Pezeshkian's comments came as Oman, a go-between in talks between Iran and the US, urged the two countries on Saturday to resume talks.
“We want to return to the negotiations between Iran (and) the United States,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said at the IISS Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Sunday that Tehran “has received messages” on resuming diplomacy, without providing further details.
Oman hosted five rounds of US-Iran talks this year. Just three days before the sixth round, Israel launched its strikes against Iran's nuclear sites. Iran has since faced the return of UN sanctions after Britain, Germany and France triggered the “snapback” mechanism over Tehran's alleged non-compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
