by AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Does appearance signal that Iran is restarting its nuclear program?
The head of Iran's
nuclear program said Sunday that the Islamic Republic has begun
"preliminary activities for designing" a modern process for 20% uranium
enrichment for its 50-year-old research reactor in Tehran, signaling new
danger for the nuclear deal.
Restarting enrichment at that level would mean Iran had withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers, an accord that U.S. President Donald Trump already pulled America out of in May.
However, Ali Akbar Salehi's comments to
state television appeared aimed at telling the world Iran would slowly
restart its program. If it chooses, it could resume mass enrichment at
its main facility in the central Iranian town of Natanz.
"Preliminary activities for designing modern 20% (enriched uranium) fuel have begun," state TV quoted Salehi as saying.
Salehi said adding the "modern fuel" will increase efficiency in the Tehran research reactor that consumes 20% enriched fuel.
"We are on the verge" of being ready, he said, without elaborating.
In June, Iran informed the U.N.'s nuclear
watchdog that it will increase its nuclear enrichment capacity within
the limits set by the 2015 agreement with world powers. Iran continues
to comply with the terms of the deal, according to the U.N., despite the
American pullout.
Salehi heads the Atomic Energy Organization
of Iran, whose Tehran campus holds the nuclear research reactor given
to the country by the U.S. in 1967 under the rule of the shah. But in
the time since that American "Atoms for Peace" donation, Iran was
convulsed by its 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent takeover and
hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
For decades since, Western nations have
been concerned about Iran's nuclear program, accusing Tehran of seeking
atomic weapons. Iran long has said its program is for peaceful purposes,
but it faced years of crippling sanctions.
The 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with
world powers, including the U.S. under former President Barack Obama,
was aimed at relieving those fears. Under it, Iran agreed to store its
excess centrifuges at its underground Natanz enrichment facility under
constant surveillance by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency. Iran can use 5,060 older-model IR-1 centrifuges at
Natanz, but only to enrich uranium up to 3.67%.
That low-level enrichment means the uranium
can be used to fuel a civilian reactor but is far below the 90% needed
to produce a weapon. Iran also can possess no more than 300 kilograms
(660 pounds) of that uranium. That's compared to the 10,000 kilograms
(22,046 pounds) of higher-enriched uranium it once had.
Trump, who campaigned on a promise to tear
up the nuclear deal, said he ultimately pulled America out of the accord
over Iran's ballistic missile program and its malign influence on the
wider Middle East.
In an interview in September with The
Associated Press, Salehi warned that Iran could begin mass production of
more advanced centrifuges if the deal collapses.
"If we have to go back and withdraw from
the nuclear deal, we certainly do not go back to where we were before,"
Salehi said at the time. "We will be standing on a much, much higher
position."
AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/01/14/iran-exploring-new-uranium-enrichment-nuclear-chief-say/
Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment