Tehran:
Iran warned Tuesday it will start off enriching uranium up to 60 % purity, two days following an explosion it blamed on arch-enemy Israel hit its essential nuclear facility in Natanz.
The announcement cast a shadow more than ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the tattered 2015 nuclear deal involving Iran and planet powers that former US president Donald Trump abandoned 3 years ago.
Tehran has written to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency to announce “that Iran will start 60 percent enrichment,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
The move will bring Iran closer to the 90 % purity threshold for military use and shorten its prospective “breakout time” to make an atomic bomb, a objective it denies.
Under the nuclear deal, Iran had committed to hold enrichment to 3.67 %, even though it had stepped this up to 20 % in January.
The most recent news came two days following an explosion knocked out energy at Iran’s primary nuclear facility of Natanz in central Iran which the Islamic republic blamed on Israel and labelled an act of “terrorism”.
Israel, which did not claim duty, is strongly opposed to US President Joe Biden’s efforts to revive the nuclear agreement.
The accord involving Iran and the UN Security Council’s permanent members plus Germany promised Iran relief from punishing sanctions in return for agreeing to limits on its nuclear programme.
Israel has vowed it will quit the Islamic republic from ever constructing an atomic bomb, which it considers an existential threat to the Jewish state.
“Bad gamble”
The mysterious blast at Natanz has sharply heightened tensions involving the two powers currently engaged in a shadow war on lands and seas across the Middle East, with Iran on Monday vowing to take “revenge”.
“If (Israel) thought that they can stop Iran from following up on lifting sanctions from the Iranian people, then they made a very bad gamble,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned.
Iran would make the enrichment plant “more powerful” by applying sophisticated centrifuges, he added.
IRNA reported that Iran would also add “1,000 centrifuges with 50 percent more capacity to the machines present in Natanz, in addition to replacing” these broken in the attack.
According to Iran’s English-language channel Press Television, the enrichment jump will start off on Wednesday.
Zarif, following talks with his going to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, also warned Israel’s ally the United States it would acquire no added leverage in Vienna by means of “acts of sabotage” and sanctions.
The White House has denied all US involvement in the Natanz incident.
Unsourced Israeli media reports attributed the blast to Israeli safety services.
The New York Times, quoting unnamed US and Israeli intelligence officials, also stated there had been “an Israeli role” in the attack in which an explosion had “completely destroyed” the energy technique that fed the plant’s “underground centrifuges”.
Quoting an additional unnamed intelligence supply on Tuesday, the NYT added that an “explosive device had been smuggled” into the website and “detonated remotely”, taking out major and backup energy.
“Worse than a crime”
Lavrov, for the duration of his Tehran take a look at, stressed Russian assistance for Iran’s position.
“We are counting on the fact that we will be able to save the agreement and that Washington will finally return to full and complete implementation of the corresponding UN resolution,” Lavrov stated.
Europe’s “inability to implement” its nuclear deal commitments and “bowing to America’s pressure” shows it is “slowly losing its relevance in international relations”, Zarif stated.
He also blasted the European Union for slapping sanctions on eight Iranian safety officials, in response to a crackdown on 2019 street protests, saying the blacklisting threatens efforts to restore the deal.
“If this decision was taken voluntarily in the midst of negotiations in Vienna… it is a mistake worse than a crime,” stated Lavrov.
“I hope our European colleagues understand that such actions are unacceptable and will take measures not to allow the talks to be derailed.”
Lavrov’s remarks come at a time of heightened tensions involving Russia and the West more than many difficulties, also such as Ukraine.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile told Lavrov that Iran expects a “return to 2015’s agreements and obligations”.
For now, the agreement remains in limbo with neither Tehran nor Washington backing down from their positions, and every single demanding the other make the very first move.
Ali Vaez, analyst with the International Crisis Group, stated Iran’s vow to step up enrichment showed the lengthy-operating “maximum pressure” campaign of Trump and Netanyahu had backfired.
“Thanks to Netanyahu and max pressure cheerleaders in DC, Iran’s nuclear program is now going to be enriching at unprecedented levels, with less international oversight,” he wrote on Twitter. “Tremendous work, everyone!”
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