20pc uranium enrichment process started: Iran
EU warns the move would hamper nuke deal
Iran has started the process to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity at its underground Fordow facility, state media reported yesterday, going well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 nuclear deal.
It is the latest and most important suspension of nuclear commitments by Iran under the landmark deal, starting in 2019, and in response to President Donald Trump's dramatic withdrawal from the accord in May 2018, with the US imposing crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.
"The process for producing 20 percent enriched uranium has started at Shahid Alimohammadi enrichment complex (Fordow)," government spokesman Ali Rabiei said, quoted on the website of the state broadcaster.
According to the official, President Hassan Rouhani ordered the enrichment "in recent days", and "the gas injection process started as of hours ago."
The European Union yesterday said that Iran's enrichment programme would be a "considerable departure" from deal.
EU spokesman Peter Stano said Brussels would wait until a briefing from the director of the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog before deciding what action to take. On December 31 Iran informed the IAEA that it would begin producing uranium enriched to up to 20 percent purity, the level it had before the nuclear deal was reached.
Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters, Iranian media said yesterday, at a time of tension between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen at South Korean banks due to US sanctions.