After the U.K., France and Germany miss the 7 September deadline, Iran activates advanced 20 IR-4 and 20 IR-6 centrifuges
The Spokesperson of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) – Behrouz Kamalvandi has said that Iran has activated advanced 20 IR-4 and 20 IR-6 centrifuges at its facility in Natanz, to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium.
The move came after United Kingdom (U.K.), France and Germany missed the deadline of September 7, 2019 for ensuring that economic sanctions imposed by the United States (U.S.) are lifted.
The matter relates to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal or Iran nuclear deal reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015, between Iran, the P5+1 (the 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – plus Germany) and European Union (E.U.).
As per the agreement, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about 2/3rd the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years Iran was not allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67%. However, trouble started when U.S. abandoned the deal in May 2018 and started imposing sanctions on Iran.
Speaking to the media, Kamalvandi said, “We have started lifting limitations on our research and development imposed by the deal. It will include development of more rapid and advanced centrifuges.” He further added, “The capacity of these machines is many times more than the previous machines. This started as of yesterday (Friday).”
He also confirmed that all these steps are reversible provided the U.S. withdraws the sanctions imposed on Iran such as asking world markets to not to import oil from Iran. “All these steps are reversible if the other side fulfils its promises,” said Kamalvandi
He has also mentioned that Iran can go beyond 20% enrichment of uranium. It is to be noted 20% is just a short technical step away from 90% enrichment, which is weapons-grade level. At the same time, Iran is open to regular monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as it has done under the earlier.
Separately, the National Security Advisor of U.S. – John Bolton, has tweeted a satellite image on Friday, i.e., September 6, 2019, where he claimed that Iran has dishonoured its word regarding the destination of an oil tanker which was detained by British Royal Marines in Gibraltar as it was heading to Syria, in violation of the European Union (E.U.) sanctions.
Bolton tweeted, “Anyone who said the Adrian Darya-1 wasn’t headed to #Syria is in denial. Tehran thinks it’s more important to fund the murderous Assad regime than provide for its own people. We can talk, but #Iran’s not getting any sanctions relief until it stops lying and spreading terror!”
Anyone who said the Adrian Darya-1 wasn’t headed to #Syria is in denial. Tehran thinks it’s more important to fund the murderous Assad regime than provide for its own people. We can talk, but #Iran’s not getting any sanctions relief until it stops lying and spreading terror! pic.twitter.com/saar05T8wt
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) September 6, 2019
For the records, the ship ‘Adrian Darya 1’, formerly named ‘Grace 1’, was released in August 2019 on written assurance that the said ship will not head to Syria.
