‘Be careful with the threats, Iran’
US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday against making threats that can “come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before,” after Tehran vowed to exceed the maximum uranium enrichment level allowed by a landmark 2015 nuclear accord.
President Hassan Rouhani announced that after July 7 Iran would enrich uranium beyond a fissile purity of 3.67%, which is the maximum allowed by the deal and a level which is deemed suitable for electricity generation.
It is the second time this week that Tehran has announced a measure that undermines the nuclear accord, which has been in trouble since Trump pulled the United States out of it last year.
“Our level of enrichment will no longer be 3.67. We will put this commitment aside by whatever amount we feel like, by whatever amount is our necessity, our need. We will take this above 3.67,” said Rouhani, according to IRIB news agency.
Enrichment to 90% yields nuclear bomb-grade material.
Trump responded with a post on social media, saying: “Iran has just issued a New Warning. Rouhani says that they will Enrich Uranium to ‘any amount we want’ if there is no new Nuclear Deal. Be careful with the threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!”
Iran’s intelligence minister has said Tehran and Washington could hold talks only if the United States ended its sanctions and Iran’s top authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his approval, state news agency IRNA reported yesterday.
“Holding talks with America can be reviewed by Iran only If (US President Donald) Trump lifts the sanctions and our supreme leader gives permission to hold such talks,” Mahmoud Alavi said late on Wednesday.
“Americans were scared of Iran’s military power, that is the reason behind their decision to abort the decision to attack Iran.”
Experts said Iran has no legitimate use for uranium enriched beyond the level permitted by the deal.
“There is no justification,” said Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association, a Washington advocacy organization.
The move, she said, was aimed at increasing pressure on European powers, China and Russia to compensate Iran for the impact of US sanctions re-imposed by Trump after he renounced the deal.
Tehran has denied any intent to develop nuclear weapons.
Rouhani added that the Islamic Republic’s actions were reversible. “All of our actions can be returned to the previous condition within one hour, why are you worried?” he said.
TOUGH TONE
His tone was unusually tough. Rouhani was the Iranian architect of the nuclear pact and is seen as a pragmatist, unlike senior clerics in the ruling elite who opposed his opening to the West and have kept up their denunciations of the United States.
Rouhani further urged the Trump administration to “adopt a rational approach again” and return to the negotiating table.
Weeks of tensions with Washington crested last month when Tehran shot down a US military surveillance drone and Trump responded with a decision to launch air strikes only to call them off at the last minute. Washington also accused Iran of being behind attacks on several oil tankers in the Gulf, which Tehran denies.
Iran on Monday said it has amassed more low-enriched uranium than the 300 kg (661 lbs) permitted under the nuclear pact, prompting Trump to warn it was “playing with fire”.
European nations who are part of the nuclear deal said on Tuesday they were “extremely concerned” by Tehran’s stockpiling announcement while Israel said it was preparing for possible involvement in any military confrontation between Iran and the United States.
Rouhani said that if the nations in the pact did not protect trade with Iran promised under the deal but blocked by Trump’s re-imposition of tough sanctions, Tehran would also start to revive its Arak heavy-water reactor after July 7.
He kept the door open to negotiations, saying Iran would again reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium below the 300-kg limit set by the pact if Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China honoured their deal pledges.
Iran will gain nothing by departing from the terms of the deal, the French foreign ministry cautioned on Wednesday.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated since Trump pulled Washington out of the pact in May 2018 and acted to bar all international sales of Iranian oil, the Islamic Republic’s economic lifeblood.
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