Dubai/Venna - Iran has breached the limit
of its enriched uranium stockpile set in a 2015 deal with major
powers, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday,
according to the ISNA news agency, defying a warning by European
co-signatories to stick to the deal despite US sanctions.
Zarif confirmed that Iran had exceeded the relevant limit of
300 kg of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), but Foreign Ministry
spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran's steps to decrease its
commitments to the nuclear deal were "reversible".
The International Atomic Energy agency (IAEA) said that its
inspectors were verifying whether Iran had accumulated more
enriched uranium than allowed.
"Our inspectors are on the ground and they will report to
headquarters as soon as the LEU (low-enriched uranium) stockpile
has been verified, a spokesman for the UN agency said.
Enriching uranium to a low level of 3.6% fissile material is
the first step in a process that could eventually allow Iran to
amass enough highly-enriched uranium to build a nuclear warhead.
Last Wednesday, the IAEA verified that Iran had roughly 200
kg of low-enriched uranium, just below the deal’s 202.8 kg
limit, three diplomats who follow the agency’s work told
Reuters. A quantity of 300 kg of UF6 (uranium hexafluoride)
corresponds to 202.8 kg of LEU.
After talks on Friday in Vienna, Iran said European
countries had offered too little in the way of trade assistance
to persuade it to back off from its plan to breach the limit, a
riposte to US President Donald Trump's decision last year to
quit the deal and reimpose economic sanctions.
Mousavi urged them on Monday to step up their efforts. "Time
is running out for them to save the deal," state TV quoted him
as saying.
The deal between Iran and six world powers lifted most
international sanctions against Iran in return for restrictions
on its nuclear work aimed at extending the time Iran would need
to produce a nuclear bomb, if it chose to, from roughly 2-3
months to a year.
ISRAEL WORRIED
Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful
purposes, including generating power. Its regional adversary
Israel, which Iran does not recognise, says the program presents
it with an existential threat.
Joseph Cohen, head of the Israeli intelligence agency
Mossad, urged the international community to stop Iran from
"stepping up enrichment".
"Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by
the Iranians becomes fissionable, at military enrichment grade,
and then an actual bomb," he told the Herzliya security
conference before Zarif's announcement.
"The Middle East, and then the entire world, will be a
different place. Therefore, the world must not allow this to
happen."
In May, Washington piled pressure on Tehran by ordering all
countries to halt imports of Iranian oil, and tensions have been
growing in the Gulf ever since.
Washington has dispatched extra forces to the Middle East,
and U.S. fighter jets came within minutes of conducting air
strikes on Iran last month after Tehran downed an unmanned
American drone.
In a speech on Monday broadcast on state TV, Iranian Zarif
said: "Iran will never yield to pressure from the United States
... If they want to talk to Iran, they should show respect ...
"Never threaten an Iranian ... Iran has always resisted
pressure, and has responded with respect when respected."
Trump has called for negotiations with Iran with "no
preconditions", but Tehran has ruled out talks until the United
States returns to the nuclear pact and drops its sanctions.