Top official says Iran ready for higher uranium enrichment

A top aide to Iran’s supreme leader says the IslamicRepublic is ready to enrich uranium beyond the level set by Tehran’s 2015nuclear deal, just ahead of a deadline it set Sunday for Europe to offer newterms to the accord.

A video message by Ali Akbar Velayati included him sayingthat “Americans directly and Europeans indirectly violated the deal,”part of Tehran’s hardening tone with Europe.

   

European parties to the deal have yet to offer a way forIran to avoid the sweeping economic sanctions imposed by President Donald Trumpsince he pulled the U.S. Out of the accord a year ago, especially thosetargeting its crucial oil sales.

All this comes as America has rushed thousands of troops, anaircraft carrier, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to theMideast.

Mysterious oil tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz,attacks by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen on Saudi Arabia and Iran shootingdown a U.S. Military drone have raised fears of a wider conflict engulfing theregion.

In the video, available Saturday on a website for SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Velayati said that increasing enrichment closersto weapons-grade levels was “unanimously agreed upon by every component ofthe establishment.”

“We will show reaction exponentially as much as theyviolate it. We reduce our commitments as much as they reduce it,” saidVelayati, Khamenei’s adviser on international affairs.

“If they go back to fulfilling their commitments, we willdo so as well.” Under the atomic accord, Iran agreed to enrich uranium tono more than 3.67 per cent, which is enough for peaceful pursuits but is farbelow weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.

Iran denies it seeks nuclear weapons, but the nuclear dealsought to prevent that as a possibility by limiting enrichment and Iran’sstockpile of uranium to 300 kilograms (661 pounds).

On Monday, Iran and United Nations inspectors acknowledgedit had broken the stockpile limit. Combining that with increasing itsenrichment levels narrows the one-year window experts believe Iran would needto have enough material to build a nuclear weapon, if it chose to do so.

“This would be a very worrisome step that couldsubstantially shorten the time Iran would need to produce the material neededfor nuclear weapons,” said Miles Pomper, a senior fellow at the MiddleburyInstitute of International Studies’ James Marin Center for NonproliferationStudies.

“Both Iran and the Trump administration should belooking for ways to de-escalate the crisis, rather than exacerbate it.” Itremains unclear to what level Iran will choose to up its uranium enrichment.However, Velayati in his remarks made reference to 5 per cent enrichment.

“For Bushehr nuclear reactor we need 5 per cent ofenrichment and it is a completely peaceful goal,” he said. Bushehr, Iran’sonly nuclear power plant, is now running on imported fuel from Russia that’sclosely monitored by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran stopped producing uranium enriched above 5% in January2014 amid negotiations for the nuclear deal.

Outside of Bushehr, higher-enriched uranium could be usedfor naval ships and submarines, something Iran has said it would want topursue. Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said in 2016 that nuclear powerplants for naval vessels need uranium enriched to at least 5 per cent.

The U.S. Said its ambassador to international organizationsin Vienna, Jackie Wolcott, had requested a special meeting of the IAEA todiscuss its “latest, concerning report on the Iran regime’s nuclearprogram.” That meeting is planned for Wednesday.

Iran’s diplomatic mission to Vienna, where the IAEA isbased, called the U.S. Move “a sad irony” as America had unilaterallywithdrawn from the deal a year ago.

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