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Tehran says will breach N-deal enrichment limit

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TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it would breach internationally agreed curbs on its stock of low-enriched uranium in 10 days — a move likely to worsen tensions with Washington — but it added European nations could still save a nuclear deal that sets those limits.


In an indication of concern at Iran’s announcement, Germany urged Tehran to meet all its obligations under the 2015 accord. Britain said if Iran breached limits then London would look at “all options”.


US-Iran tensions are growing following accusations by US President Donald Trump’s administration that Tehran last Thursday attacked two oil tankers. Iran denies having any role.


Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, denied Tehran was behind the attacks and said if the Islamic Republic decided to block the strategic shipping lane it would do so publicly.


The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said Tehran was responsible for security and urged US forces to leave the region, state TV said.


In an announcement drawing signs of Western unease, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said “We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment (of uranium) and even increased it more recently, so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit.” “Iran’s reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate,” he told state TV, adding that “the move will be reversed once other parties fulfil their commitments.”


Tehran said in May it would reduce compliance with the nuclear pact it agreed with world powers in 2015, in protest at the United States’ decision to unilaterally pull out of the agreement and reimpose sanctions last year. The deal seeks to head off any pathway to an Iranian nuclear bomb in return for the removal of most international sanctions.


The accord requires Iran to curb its uranium enrichment capacity, capping Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium at 300 kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 3.67 per cent or its equivalent for 15 years.


A series of more intrusive UN inspections under the deal have verified that Iran has been meeting its commitments. Urging European signatories to hasten efforts to salvage the accord, President Hassan Rouhani said its collapse would not be in the interests of the region or the world.


“It’s a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play an historic role to save the deal in this very short time,” Rouhani was quoted as saying during a meeting with France’s new ambassador in Iran.


Kamalvandi, in a news conference at Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor which has been reconfigured under the deal, said Tehran could rebuild the underground facility to make it functional. Heavy water can be employed in reactors to produce plutonium, a fuel used in nuclear warheads.


In January, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told state TV that “despite pouring concrete in pipes within the core of the Arak reactor... Iran had purchased pipes


for replacement in case the West violated the deal.” — AFP


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