Iran ‘ preparing activities’ in case nuclear deal fails

■ Vienna, June 6: Iran said on Wednesday it was in “preparatory works” to restart nuclear activities in the event of the failure of the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers.

In such a scenario, Iran could “restart its activities without any limits,” Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) Reza Najafi told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA’s board in Vienna.

The future of the deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA) — has been thrown into doubt after US President Donald Trump announced in May that the US would withdraw from the accord and re- impose sanctions.

The preparatory works mentioned by Najafi refer to steps to boost uranium enrichment capacity by producing new centrifuges, as outlined on Tuesday by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation.

Najafi said that in addition Iran had notified the IAEA of a plan to restart activity at its uranium conversion facility in Isfahan to produce the UF6 feedstock for centrifuges. The IAEA confirmed that it had “received a letter from Iran on June 4 informing it that there is a tentative schedule to start production of UF6”.

However, Najafi emphasised that the measures do “not mean that right now Iran will start any activities contrary to JCPOA”.

The remaining signatories were scrambling to find ways to preserve the accord. In May a senior Iranian official said European powers had until May- end to come up with an economic package to compensate Iran for the effects of the US withdrawal. On Wednesday Najafi said negotiations were still continuing at an expert level, but that it could not be an “endless process” and needed to be concluded “very soon”.