BREAKING OF COMMITMENT This 60% threshold greatly exceeds the 3.67% threshold set by the 2015 agreement
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on November 4, 2020 shows An overview of Iran’s Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the city of Qom, Iran. — AFP
It’s a huge sprain. its commitments. Iran has started to produce enriched uranium at 60% at its Fordo factory, after a critical resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Already, last year, Iran had announced to have started to produce enriched uranium at 60% at the Natanz site (center), approaching the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb.
This threshold of 60% greatly exceeds that of 3.67% set by the company. by the 2015 agreement between Tehran and the major powers aimed at prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Under this agreement, Iran had agreed to to freeze its enrichment activities at Fordo, an underground factory located at; 180 kilometers south of Tehran. The site had however been recommissioned in 2019 and recently modified; with a view to obtaining greater efficiency.
A “serious reaction”
“The production of enriched uranium at 60% to Fordo started Monday” On Tuesday, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEIO), Mohammad Eslami, quoted as by the Isna press agency. “We said that political pressure doesn’t change anything and that passing a resolution [” the IAEA] will elicit a serious response” from Iran, he added.
The 2015 Covenant (JCPOA) offered to Iran an easing of international sanctions in exchange for guarantees that Tehran would not acquire atomic weapons, a goal that the Islamic Republic has always denied; to chase. However, after the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and the reinstatement of US sanctions that are stifling its economy, Tehran gradually freed itself from its obligations.
Washington refuses that Tehran has nuclear weapons
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has confirmed this resumption of production, “will inform Iran of its intention to increase the frequency and intensity of the production. of its verification activities,” its managing director. Across the Atlantic, a spokesman for the White House expressed Tuesday the “deep concern” of the United States against the “”progress” Iranian nuclear program.
“ observe with deep concern not only the progress of Iran’s nuclear program but also the steady improvement of their ballistic missile capabilities,” said John Kirby, spokesman of the Security Council of the White House.
Paris, Berlin and London condemn
He added, without giving further details: “We will make sure the (US) president has all the options” necessary. “We certainly haven’t changed; our point of view which is that we will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons,” said John Kirby.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom United have published a joint statement in which they “condemned Iran’s latest moves, confirmed by the IAEA, to further expand its nuclear program” They point out that by increasing its production capacities, Tehran “has taken significant new steps that empty” the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement “its content”.