Iran poised to defy nuclear pact
EUROPE CONDEMNS MOVE AS TEHRAN MAKES LATEST BID TO HAVE U.S. SANCTIONS EASED
Iran announced on Sunday it will shortly boost its uranium enrichment above a cap set by a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, a major breach likely to draw a tougher reaction from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pressured Tehran to renegotiate the pact.
In a sign of heightening tensions, France, Germany and Britain — all parties to the deal — expressed concerns over the step taken by Tehran, its latest
effort to force the West to lift sanctions ravaging its limping economy.
Trump on Sunday said Iran “better be careful.”
In a live news conference, senior Iranian officials threatened further violations, saying Tehran would keep reducing its commitments every 60 days, unless European signatories of the deal protect it from U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump.
“We are fully prepared to enrich uranium at any level and with any amount,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
“In a few hours the technical process will come to an end and the enrichment beyond 3.67 per cent will begin,” he added, referring to the limit set in the 2015 agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the step was extremely dangerous and was designed to create atomic bombs, and again called on Europe to impose punitive sanctions on Tehran.
Iran has denied any intent to develop nuclear weapons.
The Europeans, who object to Trump’s withdrawal from the deal, have so far failed to salvage the pact by shielding Iran’s economy from U.S. sanctions, which cost billions of dollars in lost oil sales.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Iran’s decision as a “violation” of the pact which the United States pulled out of last year.
Iran must immediately stop and reverse its activities, a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said on Sunday.
The European Union strongly urged Iran to stop actions that would undermine the pact, saying it was in touch with other parties and may set up a joint commission to examine the issue.
“The Iranian government is trying to create a crisis that will force a multilateral negotiation without precipitating a war,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Iran did leave some room for negotiations.
All measures taken to scale back its commitments to the agreement were “reversible” if the European signatories of the pact fulfilled their obligations, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Sunday.
The Iran nuclear deal dispute resolution mechanism will not be triggered for now, said a source at Macron’s Elysee office. The French government is giving itself until July 15 to try to get all parties talking again.
Under that so-called snapback mechanism, if a series of steps designed to resolve differences fails, sanctions in all previous UN resolutions would be reimposed.
Daniel Byman, senior fellow for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, said Iran was engaged in a tricky balancing act.
“The step is meant to show domestic audiences that Iran is standing up to U.S. pressure. It is also meant to convey a sense of risk to European audiences that Iran may provoke a crisis,” he said.
According to the terms of the pact, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent fissile material, well below the 20 per cent it was reaching before the deal and the roughly 90 per cent suitable for a nuclear weapon. Simon Henderson, director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he feared that if Iran wanted to raise enrichment it would have to raise it to 20 per cent for technical reasons.