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Rouhani Says Iran Will Begin Enriching Uranium at Higher Level in Days Rouhani Says Iran Will Begin Enriching Uranium at Higher Level in Days
(about 5 hours later)
LONDON — Iran will “take the next step” on Sunday and begin to enrich uranium beyond the levels specified under its 2015 accord with the United States and other global powers, President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, state news outlets reported. LONDON — Iran will begin as early as Sunday to enrich uranium “in any amount that we want,” President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, declaring that Tehran would exceed the levels specified under its 2015 accord with the United States and other global powers.
Mr. Rouhani’s pledge to accelerate the country’s uranium enrichment is the latest step in an escalating confrontation with the United States over President Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear pact and imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Iran. Mr. Rouhani’s pledge to accelerate the country’s uranium enrichment is the latest step in an escalating confrontation with the United States that is already shaking the region as Washington and Tehran face off over President Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear pact and imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Iran.
On Monday, Tehran increased its stockpile of low-grade enriched uranium above the cap stipulated in the accord. But its announced intention to enrich uranium to a higher level of purity is considered a far more significant breach of the nuclear deal, as it would bring Iran much closer to producing a nuclear weapon. Restarting the production of highly enriched uranium could constitute a first step toward the construction of a nuclear weapon. It may be a potentially fatal blow to the 2015 deal itself, which sought to provide Iran with relief from international economic sanctions in exchange for restrictions on any efforts by Tehran to develop such a weapon.
Iran has maintained over the years that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes, and that the more highly enriched uranium was intended for use in a reactor that produces medical isotopes. And because it raises the possibility that Iran might seek a bomb — which Iran insists it does not want — the enrichment is also likely to reopen questions about whether the United States or Israel might take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities to delay its success.
But to forestall Iran’s decades-long pursuit of the technology to build a nuclear bomb, the United States, the European Union and several world powers agreed in 2015 to lift sweeping economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limitations on its nuclear activity. Tehran already increased on Monday its stockpile of low-grade enriched uranium above the cap stipulated in the accord. But Iran’s intention to enrich uranium to a higher level of purity is considered a far more significant breach of the nuclear deal, as it would bring Iran much closer to producing a nuclear weapon.
Mr. Trump withdrew from that deal last year, demanding that Iran agree to more stringent limits on its nuclear and conventional military activities. This May, the United States added to its “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran by moving to block the country’s oil sales anywhere in the world, cutting its exports to around 300,000 barrels a day from 2.5 million. Officials in Tehran have denounced those latest restrictions as “economic warfare.” Mohammad Reza Jalaipour, a political analyst based in Tehran, likened the promised enrichment to the decision last month by the Iranian military to shoot down an American surveillance drone: a demonstration of Iran’s ability to retaliate, in this case against the economic sanctions, which Iran views as an act of war.
The other signatories to the nuclear deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — have continued to support it and urged Iran to do the same. But Tehran has threatened to stop complying with the agreement unless the European nations take measures to relieve the economic pain inflicted by the United States. “They want to say that threatening us won’t work,” Mr. Jalaipour said.
The demise of the pact would revive questions about whether Tehran might seek to develop a nuclear weapon and, if so, whether the United States or Israel might then take military action to prevent that. Likewise, Mr. Trump took Mr. Rouhani’s statement as a threat, and hinted at retaliation.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran are already spilling out in other ways. The United States was within minutes of launching a missile strike against Iran last month in retaliation for the shooting down of an American surveillance drone, before Mr. Trump reversed the order. “Be careful with the threats, Iran,” he said on Twitter Wednesday. “They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!”
The United States and other allies have also accused Iran of using naval mines to damage a total of six tankers in two attacks around the crucial oil shipping lanes in and out of the Persian Gulf, accusations Iranian officials have denied. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes, and that the more highly enriched uranium was intended for use in a reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Mr. Rouhani said that Iran would move on Sunday to enrich uranium to higher levels “in any amount that we want, any amount that is required,” regardless of the limits set by the deal. But the United States, the European Union and several world powers including Russia and China were alarmed enough at Iran’s decades-long pursuit of the technology to build a nuclear bomb that they agreed to act in concert in 2015 to lift sweeping economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limitations on its nuclear activity.
Mr. Trump withdrew from that deal last year, demanding that Iran agree to more stringent limits on its nuclear and conventional military activities. He has replaced that approach with a so-called maximum pressure campaign of new sanctions and threats aimed at forcing Iran to accept his conditions, culminating in May with a tightening of penalties intended to block Iranian oil sales anywhere in the world.
As Iran’s exports fell to around 300,000 barrels a day from 2.5 million, officials in Tehran have denounced the latest restrictions as “economic warfare.”
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen to their highest level in more than two decades, and the United States last month came within minutes of launching a missile strike against Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of an American surveillance drone. Mr. Trump called the strike off only moments before launching.
The United States and other allies have accused Iran of using naval mines to damage a total of six tankers in two attacks over the last two months around the crucial oil shipping lanes in and out of the Persian Gulf, accusations Iranian officials have denied.
The other signatories — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — have continued to support the deal and urged Iran to abide by it even though the United States has withdrawn. In its most significant break with the Trump administration, the European Union has even tried to throw the Iranians an economic lifeline in the form of an alternative trading mechanism to help bypass the American financial system and new American sanctions.
But that effort has largely failed.
Mr. Rouhani has said that Iran would gradually stop complying with the restrictions if the European nations failed to provide some relief from the economic pain within two months of the latest constriction of the American sanctions — a deadline that falls on Sunday.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the team that negotiated the 2015 deal, told reporters in New York on Thursday that the restarting of uranium enrichment was meant in part as a message to the Europeans.
“If U.S. is out and Europeans are not in a position to compensate what we are losing, that means that the deal is not working,” Mr. Takht-Ravanchi said. “We have been telling friends in Europe that the deal is tarnished after U.S. withdrawal and we told them, ‘you need to fix it.’”
“We cannot continue with the way the deal has been treated,” he added.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Mr. Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would begin enriching uranium to higher levels “in any amount that we want, any amount that is required.” It would no longer heed the limits set by the deal, which was sealed with a resolution of the United Nations Security Council.
“Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table,” Mr. Rouhani said. “Go back to understanding, to respecting the law and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal.”“Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table,” Mr. Rouhani said. “Go back to understanding, to respecting the law and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal.”
In addition, Mr. Rouhani said with new specificity that Iran would also start taking steps on Sunday to restart its Arak nuclear reactor, which could eventually be used to produce plutonium and provide an alternate path to developing a bomb. Mr. Rouhani added that Iran would also start taking steps on Sunday to restart its Arak nuclear reactor, which could eventually be used to produce plutonium and provide an alternate path to a nuclear bomb.
Iran had said under the 2015 accord that it had removed the core of the reactor and filled it with cement. If the United States and the other signatories do not provide the sanctions relief they had promised, he said, Iran will return the Arak reactor to “the condition that you say is dangerous and can produce plutonium.” Under the 2015 accord, Iran had said that it removed the core of the reactor and filled it with cement. But if the United States and the other signatories do not provide the sanctions relief they had promised, Mr. Rouhani said, Iran will return the Arak reactor to “the condition that you say is dangerous and can produce plutonium.”
“We will return to that unless you take action regarding all your commitments,” he said.“We will return to that unless you take action regarding all your commitments,” he said.
The European Union, in its most significant break with the Trump administration, has sought to throw the Iranians the sort of economic lifeline that would persuade them to continue honoring the terms of the deal. But a proposed alternative trading mechanism to help Iran bypass the new American sanctions has largely failed, and Mr. Rouhani had set a deadline of the first week in July for the Europeans to deliver on their promises of help. After Iran exceeded the limits for low-enriched uranium, top diplomats from the European Union, Britain, France and Germany warned in a statement on Tuesday that they were “extremely concerned” and that “our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance with Iran.”
As that deadline approached, Iran this week took its first small step beyond the 2015 agreement by surpassing the deal’s cap in its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. “We are urgently considering next steps” under the terms of the 2015 agreement, the Europeans said, without elaborating.
Taken alone, that step does little to bring Iran closer to the potential development of a nuclear weapon. And the stockpile could easily be reduced to compliance by shipping the excess abroad. But the violation of the 2015 agreement nonetheless served as a warning that the pact itself was in imminent danger. The agreement — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or J.C.P.O.A. — included provisions for the imposition of onerous so-called snapback sanctions by a vote of the United Nations Security Council if Iran violates the restrictions on its nuclear activities.
In response, top diplomats from the European Union, Britain, France and Germany released a statement on Tuesday warning that they were “extremely concerned” and that “our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance with Iran.“ It was not clear if any of the Western European governments would seek to invoke those provisions. A European Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity per diplomatic protocol, said Tuesday it was not under discussion.
“We are urgently considering next steps” under the terms of the 2015 agreement, the Europeans said, though they did not elaborate. If it were, it is not clear if Russia or China, which can veto actions by the Security Council, would go along with the measure.
Mr. Rouhani’s statement on Wednesday appeared to rebuff those warnings, setting the stage for Iran to resume production of more highly enriched uranium. Iranian officials insist that their country has not violated the agreement, which they say gives Iran the right to deviate from its terms if other parties fail to comply. “As soon as the E3,” the European signatories, “abide by their obligations, we’ll reverse,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The Iranians have said they are trying to preserve the nuclear deal, but they have expressed increasing impatience with the Europeans’ requests that Tehran abide by the 2015 agreement — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or J.C.P.O.A., — long after the Trump administration stamped it a dead letter. “So moving forward, Iran will comply with its commitments under the J.C.P.O.A. in exactly the same manner as the EU/E3 have — and will — comply with theirs,” he added. “Fair enough?“
“Iran is committed to the full implementation of the #JCPOA: as long as E3/EU implement THEIR economic commitments,” Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, wrote on Twitter late Tuesday night, referring to the European Union and its three signatories to the deal, Britain, France and Germany.
“So moving forward, Iran will comply with its commitments under the JCPOA in exactly the same manner as the EU/E3 have — and will — comply with theirs,” Mr. Zarif added. “Fair enough?’’
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