Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). File photo
"The basis of the nuclear industry is enrichment. Whatever you want to do in the nuclear process, you need nuclear fuel," said Eslami, according to a video published by Etemad daily on Thursday.
"Iran's nuclear programme is proceeding according to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and no country can deprive Iran of the right to peacefully benefit from this technology."
The comments follow the second round of Oman-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington in Geneva on Tuesday.
The two foes had held an initial round of discussions on February 6 in Oman, the first since previous talks collapsed during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.
The United States briefly joined the war alongside Israel, striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site.
He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago's Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, to avoid what he alleged was a potential attack by Tehran.
Washington has repeatedly called for zero enrichment and has also sought to broaden the talks to include Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region, issues Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has pushed to put on the agenda.
Tehran, however, has rejected expanding the negotiations beyond the nuclear file, insisting it has the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons — a treaty Israel has not signed, thereby avoiding its obligations and inspections regime.
Trump, who has ratcheted up pressure on Iran to reach an agreement, has deployed a significant naval force to the region, which he has described as an "armada".
After sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and escort battleships to the Gulf in January, he recently indicated that a second aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, would depart "very soon" for the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Iranian naval forces this week conducted military drills in the Gulf and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Separately, the Iranian and Russian navies were conducting joint drills in the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean on Thursday.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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