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Iranian FM planned to lure US investment in nuclear program; speech canceled

The hosts denied Araghchi’s request to alter the conference format to avoid a question-and-answer session.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A speech prepared by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which included a promise of a “trillion dollar opportunity,” was meant to attract US investors to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The speech, which was to be delivered at the Nuclear Policy Conference for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, presented Iran’s plans to build 19 nuclear reactors.

“Iran’s long-term plan is to build at least 19 new nuclear reactors; this means tens of billions of dollars in potential contracts are available” for US companies, Araghchi said ina written copy of his intended remarks on social media.

“American companies could explore the trillion-dollar opportunity that the Iranian economy presented,” including companies that could “help generate clean electricity from non-hydrocarbon sources,” he continued.

“The Iranian market alone was large enough to revive America’s faltering nuclear industry,” he added.

The speech was canceled because the hosts denied Araghchi’s request to alter the conference format to avoid a question-and-answer session. The concern was that a change in format could “severely curtail” the audience’s ability to gain more information about the proposal.

Iran’s official UN delegation blamed the event organizers, posting on its X account that “the cancellation came after the organizers decided to change the keynote speech into a debate format.”

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Araghchi said the host was “neither cognizant nor considerate of these sensitive dynamics.” He also slammed the international community for “ignoring Israel’s nuclear arsenal and refusing to join the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty or accept IAEA monitoring.”

The Islamic Republic “was the only country to “officially oppose nuclear weapons on religious grounds,” he claimed.

Iran’s nuclear program was mischaracterized because of “politically motivated narratives,” Araghchi said. He criticized the “toxic narratives” surrounding Israel’s nuclear program and welcomed Washington to engage in talks with “mutual respect and equal standing.”