URANIUM ENRICHMENT
Iran exceeds stockpile limit
Says FM Zarif despite warning by EU signatories to stick to 2015 nuke deal; IAEA confirms breach of limit
US imposed more economic sanctions on Iran in May
Trump dispatched extra forces to ME
Iran has breached the limit of its enriched uranium stockpile set in a 2015 deal with major powers, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said yesterday, according to the ISNA news agency, defying a warning by European co-signatories to stick to the deal despite US sanctions.
Zarif confirmed that Iran had exceeded the relevant limit of 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), but Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran’s steps to decrease its commitments to the nuclear deal were “reversible”.
The International Atomic Energy agency (IAEA) confirmed yesterday that Iran has exceeded a limit on its enriched uranium reserves set by a 2015 nuclear deal.
Enriching uranium to a low level of 3.6% fissile material is the first step in a process that could eventually allow Iran to amass enough highly-enriched uranium to build a nuclear warhead.
Last Wednesday, the IAEA verified that Iran had roughly 200 kg of low-enriched uranium, just below the deal’s 202.8 kg limit, three diplomats who follow the agency’s work told Reuters. A quantity of 300 kg of UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) corresponds to 202.8 kg of LEU.
After talks on Friday in Vienna, Iran said European countries had offered too little in the way of trade assistance to persuade it to back off from its plan to breach the limit, a riposte to US President Donald Trump’s decision last year to quit the deal and reimpose economic sanctions.
Mousavi urged them yesterday to step up their efforts. “Time is running out for them to save the deal,” state TV quoted him as saying.
The deal between Iran and six world powers lifted most international sanctions against Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear work aimed at extending the time.
In May, Washington piled pressure on Tehran by ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil, and tensions have been growing in the Gulf ever since.
Washington has dispatched extra forces to the Middle East, and US fighter jets came within minutes of conducting air strikes on Iran last month after Tehran downed an unmanned American drone.
In a speech yesterday broadcast on state TV, Iranian Zarif said: “Iran will never yield to pressure from the United States ... If they want to talk to Iran, they should show respect ...
“Never threaten an Iranian ... Iran has always resisted pressure, and has responded with respect when respected.”