Iran to enrich uranium beyond nuclear deal limit
Iran’s government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a press conference in Tehran on Sunday morning that Iran will exceed the 3.67 limit to a “level which meets our needs”, but did not confirm whether it would surpass 5 percent.
Rabiei said Iran is not prepared to stay in the JCPOA at any price, but that everything Iran is doing now is designed to save the deal.
The limit will be exceeded in a matter of hours, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told the press conference.
The Europeans have not met our needs, Araghchi said, but added that Iran does not overlook the political importance of the INSTEX mechanism designed to help alleviate US sanctions.
“As far as we are concerned there is no such unit called the 5 plus 1. We are negotiating with the 4 plus 1,” Araghchi said, referring to the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal, minus the US.
“But if the US wants to take part in the negotiation, we have no issue as long as it removes all the sanctions.”
“We hope we can reach a solution otherwise after 60 days we will take the third step as well,” he added.
No one should doubt the resolve of Iran in reducing its commitments to the deal, Araghchi said.
He also highlighted recent progress over last two months to upgrade the Arak reactor site for civilian purposes.
Commenting on the Grace 1 supertanker detained off Gibraltar last week, Araghchi said the oil shipment was not bound for Baniyas in Syria, which is under EU sanctions, as the refinery there is unable to handle such a large quantity.
He also said the vessel was detained in international waters. Iran has appointed lawyers, invited the Spanish ambassador, and the summoned the British ambassador to address the issue.
Responding to the news in commends to Reuters, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Iran's "violation" of the deal.
Iranian FM Zarif tweeted on Sunday afternoon the decision is reversible.
“We reserve the right to continue to exercise legal remedies within JCPOA to protect our interests in the face of US #EconomicTerrorism. All such steps are reversible only through E3 compliance.”
Having failed to implement their obligations under JCPOA—incl after US withdrawal—EU/E3 should at minimum politically support Iran’s remedial measures under Para 36, incl at IAEA.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 7, 2019
E3 have no pretexts to avoid a firm political stance to preserve JCPOA & counter U.S unilateralism.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yuval Steinitz said: “Iran has begun – while it is a moderate rise right now – but it has begun to raise, to break out of the uranium enrichment curbs that were imposed on it.”
“It means ... that it is brushing off the red lines that were agreed [and] that it has begun its march, a march that is not simple, toward nuclear weaponry,” he told Ynet.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani confirmed the planned enrichment move on Wednesday despite vocal opposition from European signatories and the US, which withdrew from the deal in May 2018.
Rouhani said the move comes in response to the failure of the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal to ease US sanctions pressure on Iran by the 60-day deadline he imposed in May – which expired Sunday.
Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested in a video posted on Khamenei’s website on Saturday that uranium enrichment could be raised to 5 percent – still far below the 20 percent it was approaching before the deal was signed and well below the 90 percent required to build a nuclear warhead.
Iran has already scaled back some of its commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in response to the US withdrawal and the reimposition of harsh economic sanctions. It has already broken the 300 kg uranium stockpile limit and boosted production of heavy water.
In a last ditch effort to halt the Iranian move, Macron held a phone call with Rouhani on Saturday which lasted more than an hour, sharing his “strong concern” at the weakening of the nuclear deal and his desire to find a way to salvage the accord by July 15, according to a statement released by the Elysee Palace.
Macron said he hopes to “explore by July 15 the conditions for a resumption of dialogue between all parties” and to discuss the “necessary de-escalation”.
Europe is yet to designate a bank to handle a proposed barter trade system between Iranian and European firms to help Iran sidestep some of the US sanctions pressure.
Despite claims that the European trade channel (known as INSTEX) is operational, the head of Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI) which is the Iranian equivalent of the system, says that the Europeans have not assigned a bank to handle the trade.
The failure to get the system up and running in time to meet Rouhani’s 60-day deadline has pushed Tehran to make good on its pledge to shed more commitments to the nuclear deal.
Iran’s move is likely to raise tensions between Iran and the US even further. The US has deployed an aircraft carrier group, B-52 bombers, and hundreds more troops to the Persian Gulf region.
Iran meanwhile has been accused of attacking at least six tankers in the strategic waterway. The powerful Isalmic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) downed a US Navy spy drone in June, claiming it had violated its airspace – claims the US military deny.
Iranian officials have also vowed to retaliate after British Royal Marines seized a shipment of Iranian oil bound for Syria off the coast of Gibraltar.
This is a developing story...