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Iran
Abbas Araghchi after closed-door nuclear talks in Vienna on April 9, 2021. Photo: Joe Klamar / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iran will increase its nuclear enrichment to 60 percent on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi as saying on Tuesday.
Deputy FM Araghchi told Press TV that Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the step up in enrichment.
Araghchi's comment came a few days after the beginning of Vienna talks between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to revive the 2015 nuclear deal birthed by the administration of Barack Obama. Araghchi is in the Austrian capital as a negotiator at the talks.
The deal broke down when then US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in May 2018. Trump's administration imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran a few months later. Though Iran and the US are not direct contact, Washington is involved in the Vienna talks.
Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that it would be suspending human rights talks and cooperation with the European Union after it sanctioned several Iranian security officials, including head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami.
The sanctions issued Monday were based in part on "the human rights situation in Iran," the EU said.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hosted Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Tehran on Tuesday.
"Iran and Russia agree that US sanctions must be lifted in order to resurrect the #JCPOA," Zarif said on Twitter.
"@POTUS must choose: either the deal Obama made, or failed economic terrorism of Trump."
In a press conference after their meeting, Lavrov said Russia sides with Iran on the issue of sanctions.
"Our position is clear... all unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington in direct violation of the JCPOA should, be lifted,” Lavrov said.
The Russian FM also condemned the EU's sanctions issued Monday.
“We hope that the EU understands the unacceptability of imposing sanctions on Iran as negotiations are underway, and Moscow condemns any attempt to undermine the negotiations over the nuclear deal in Vienna,” he added.
Tehran said in January that it would be enriching uranium up to 20 percent – many times more than the 3.67 percent limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal.
Araghchi also said that 1,000 centrifuges would added at Natanz, to replace those lost in a blackout at the plant, which Iranian officials blamed on Israel. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran called the Natanz blackout an act of "nuclear terrorism".
In a virtual meeting of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke on Tuesday of "the Biden-Harris administration's unwavering commitment to Israel's security and to ensuring that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon," reads a statement from the White House.
In a White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki addressed Iran's intention to increase enrichment.
"We take seriously Iran's provocative announcement of its intention to being enriching uranium to 60 percent," Psaki told reporters.
Though Psaki said the move from Iran called its seriousness regarding the nuclear talks into question, the US will continue its indirect talks with Iran.
"We believe that the diplomatic path is the only path forward here," she said.
Updated at 9:31 pm
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