ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iran could go as far as 90 percent uranium enrichment if need be, the Iranian President told his cabinet on Wednesday.
“Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization has shown in recent months that it can enrich 20 percent and 60 percent and if our reactors need it, they can enrich up to 90 percent,” President Hassan Rouhani told his cabinet in a meeting on Wednesday, adding that their intention is peaceful, and they would do “everything necessary for peace.”
Iran became part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under Rouhani back in 2015, where Iran’s uranium enrichment was capped at 3.67 percent in return for the US and other countries party to the deal lifting sanctions on the country.
Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark nuclear accord in 2018 and began a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions in a bid to force Tehran to make a new deal that would also address its ballistic missile program and regional activities.
Under the sanctions, Iran has steadily walked back on its nuclear commitments and is now enriching uranium at 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the agreement.
Iran has said it would return to its commitments under the deal, but only in exchange for a full lift on US sanctions.
Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday took to Twitter and said that President Joe Biden should look closer at Iran’s nuclear enrichment numbers both during JCPOA, post-JCPOA and during Trump’s era.
6 years ago today, #JCPOA resolved a UNSC Chapter VII issue without resorting to war.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 14, 2021
Obama realized his "crippling sanctions" would not cripple Iran or its centrifuges. Trump ineptly thought "maximum pressure" would.
Never will.@POTUS should look closely at these figures👇 pic.twitter.com/zKOTNB3Slj
Negotiations between the remaining signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal – Iran, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany – began in early April in Vienna to find a route for the United States to rejoin the accord, lifting sanctions and for Iran to return to full compliance with its nuclear obligations.
The sixth round of talks were held last month, and at the time, Abbas Araghchi, deputy foreign minister and Iran’s chief negotiator in the Vienna talks said the talks are going well and an agreement is closer than ever though three weeks later, the seventh-round of talks are yet to take place.
The US state department spokesperson on Monday said that the US is ready to return to the negotiation table.
“Special Envoy Malley and his team are prepared to return to Vienna for the seventh round of talks as soon as they are scheduled,” Ned Price said in a press briefing. “We stand ready to resume negotiations. We continue to believe that diplomacy is the most effective means at our disposal to achieve what we seek, and that is verifiably and – verifiably and permanently ensuring that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon.”
However, the US does not seem to like the further delay of the seventh round of negotiations.
“We’ve made very clear that we are prepared to return to a seventh round. Again, we’re not imposing a deadline on these talks, but Secretary Blinken has made the point, I’ve made the point from here as well, that we are conscious that as time proceeds, Iran’s nuclear advances will have a bearing on our view of ultimately returning to the JCPOA,” Price said.
Outgoing President Rouhani seems to not be very pleased with the delay of the talks either.
“The opportunity of the twelfth cabinet to reach a deal was taken away, however we hope that the thirteenth cabinet can complete the work,” Rouhani told his cabinet apologizing for not reaching a deal in the past months.
While Iran holds elections for the presidential position and parliament, the ultimate decision is eventually made by the supreme leader of the country Ayatollah Khamenei.
