Iran vows to rebuild nuclear sites 'with greater strength'

IRAN'S President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Tehran will rebuild its nuclear installations "with greater strength." He reiterated the country is not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Pezeshkian made the remarks during a visit to the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, where he met with senior officials from Iran’s nuclear industry.

"Destroying buildings and factories will not pose an issue for us; we shall rebuild and with greater strength," the Iranian president told state media.

"It's all intended for solving the problems of the people, for disease, for public health," Pezeshkian said in reference to Iran's nuclear activities.

The comments follow warnings from US President Donald Trump that he would sanction fresh attacks on Iran's nuclear sites should Tehran attempt to restart installations that the United States bombed in June.

In June, the US and Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities which Washington alleges were part of a programme aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Tehran retaliated with ballistic missile barrages targeting Israeli cities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in July, after the United States announced a ceasefire, that the damage in Iran was "serious and severe."

Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme is for purely civilian purposes. Back in February, before the strikes, Pezeshkian had stated that Tehran would rebuild its sites if they came under attack.

Pezeshkian's declaration came as Oman, Iran's traditional intermediary, urged the two countries on Saturday to resume negotiations.

"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 Sunday that Tehran "has received messages" concerning the resumption of diplomacy, without providing further specifics.

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.

In the past, Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had lauded the benefits of Tehran's “strategic patience” in confronting its enemies. Now, however, there are growing concerns that patience has given way to paralysis as Iran's partners in its self-described “Axis of Resistance” have been devastated, and there is no overt sign of materiel support from either China or Russia.

“One of the hazards and perils facing the country is precisely this state of neither war nor peace, which is untenable,” Khamenei himself had warned in September.