Iran breaks further away from crumbling nuclear deal – By Al Jazeera Staff (Al Jazeera) / Nov 4 2019
Tehran now operates twice as many advanced centrifuges banned by 2015 pact, says move is direct result of US withdrawal.
Iran has taken further steps away from its crumbling nuclear deal with world powers by announcing it is doubling the number of its advanced centrifuges, calling the move a direct result of the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement last year.
As well as operating twice as many advanced centrifuges banned by the 2015 accord, Tehran is working on a prototype that is 50 times faster than those allowed by the deal, Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said on Monday.
Salehi said Iran is now operating 60 IR-6 advanced centrifuges. Such a centrifuge can produce enriched uranium 10 times as fast as the first-generation IR-1s allowed under the accord.
By starting up these advanced centrifuges, Iran further cuts into the one year that experts estimate Tehran would need to have enough material for building a nuclear weapon – if it chose to pursue one.
Salehi also announced that scientists were working on a prototype he called the IR-9, which worked 50-times faster than the IR-1.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari reporting from Tehran said the feeling in Iran is that since the US withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, the remaining signatories – France, Germany, Britain, Europe and Russia – have yet to uphold their end of the deal.
“Salehi stressed that is why Iran is moving forward with its nuclear program,” Jabbari said.
“This deal has been on its final legs for the last few months. Various European diplomats have been trying to salvage it by convincing the US and Iran to come back to the negotiating table, but Iran’s position is that until the US lifts its sanctions that it has imposed on the country since last year, they will not come back to any negotiations,” Jabbari said.
Iran previously has broken through its stockpile and enrichment limitations, trying to pressure Europe to offer it a new deal, more than a year since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord.
Anniversary
Salehi’s announcement came as Iran on Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy takeover that started a 444-day hostage crisis.
Demonstrators gathered in front of the former US embassy in central Tehran as state television aired footage from other cities across the country making the anniversary.
“Thanks to God, today the revolution’s seedlings have evolved into a fruitful and huge tree that its shadow has covered the entire” Middle East, said General Abdolrahim Mousavi, the commander of the Iranian army.
On Sunday, during a speech to mark the upcoming anniversary, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei again ruled out negotiations with Washington, citing its untrustworthiness.
“Nothing will come out of talking to the US, because they certainly and definitely won’t make any concessions,” Khamenei said, according to his official website.
The collapse of the nuclear deal coincided with a tense summer of mysterious attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities that the US blamed on Iran.
Tehran denied the allegation, though it did seize oil tankers and shoot down a US military surveillance drone.
Iranians gather in front of the former US Embassy building in Tehran for the 40th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy takeover [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]
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