“Iran must stop all proliferation-sensitive activities, including uranium enrichment, and we will not accept actions that support the continuation of such enrichment,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said on May 3, announcing the decision from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, strict limits were imposed on the amount of uranium Iran was permitted to enrich, keeping levels far below what is needed to build nuclear weapons. Iran was allowed to swap enriched uranium for natural uranium with Russia.
The US withdrew from the nuclear deal last May. In November, Washington granted 180-day waivers that permitted work to continue on several nuclear sites in Iran.
With the new policy change, as of Friday, “any involvement in transferring enriched uranium out of Iran in exchange for natural uranium will now be exposed to sanctions,” read a statement from the State Department. The US has also banned Iran from storing heavy water in excess of current limits.
In addition, “assistance to expand Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant beyond the existing reactor unit will be exposed to sanctions.”
The Bushehr plant was built by Russia and Moscow and Tehran have an agreement to expand it, according to Russia’s TASS news.
Pompeo has granted 90-day extensions of five waivers related to civilian modifications at existing facilities, provision of enriched uranium “on an as-needed basis” for the Tehran Research Reactor, and the transfer of scrap and spent fuel out of the country.
It is in the US’ best interests to extend the waivers, argued Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. Extending the waivers supports European and Russian nuclear cooperation with Iran, which “benefits US nonproliferation priorities and national security,” he wrote a few days before the waivers were due to expire.
At the Bushehr plant, Iran’s sole civil nuclear power reactor, he warned that “sanctioning Russian entities involved in the operation of the reactor and the spent fuel removal risks incentivizing Iran to increase its enrichment capacity to fuel that reactor, again posing a greater proliferation threat.”
US sanctions, especially on the oil sector, have crippled Iran’s economy. Inflation in Iran is projected to reach 37.2 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, while GDP shrinks by six percent.
Withdrawing from the nuclear deal, Trump’s administration has repeatedly said they support the Iranian people while condemning the regime. Washington continues “to hold the Iranian regime accountable for activities that threaten the region’s stability and harm the Iranian people,” Ortagus said on Friday.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark Teacher’s Day on May 4, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that since the start of his administration, he has said it is possible to continue work in nuclear science and technology and the world will know that Iran is not a risk. If “the centrifuge wheel can rotate, the economy of the country can rotate” was his motto in the election campaign, and people voted for him, he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, said Tehran is upholding its end of the deal, in their most recent report of February 22.
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