Agencies confirm Iran’s breach of nuclear deal
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has breached a uranium-enrichment limit set in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the country’s atomic energy agency said Monday.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the country’s uranium enrichment is now at about 4.5%. That’s enough to power Iran’s Bushehr reactor, the country’s only nuclear power plant. Weapons-grade levels are about 90%.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear monitoring agency, confirmed Monday that Iran has begun enriching uranium past the 3.67% level specified by the nuclear accord.
The announcement came just days after Iran acknowledged breaking the 661-pound limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile, another term of the accord.
Analysts said Monday’s acknowledgement shows that the Islamic Republic is trying to increase pressure on the nations still in the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran is calling on European nations in particular to help it bypass economic sanctions imposed by the United States.
Kamalvandi separately hinted in a state TV interview broadcast Monday that Iran might consider going to 20% enrichment or higher as a third step, if the material is needed and if the country still hasn’t gotten what it wants from Europe. Nuclear nonproliferation experts say 20% is a short technical step away from reaching 90% enrichment.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran appreciated the efforts of some nations to save the deal, but he offered a jaded view on whether Tehran trusted anyone in the negotiations.
“We have no hope nor trust in anyone, nor any country, but the door of diplomacy is open,” Mousavi said.
He also gave a warning to Europe about another 60-day deadline that Iran set Sunday — the third step referred to by Kamalvandi. That deadline is Sept. 5, though Iran’s senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri described it as being Sept. 7. The different dates could not be immediately reconciled.
“If the remaining countries in the deal, especially the Europeans, do not fulfill their commitments seriously, and not do anything more than talk, Iran’s third step will be harder, more steadfast and somehow stunning,” Mousavi said. The remaining signatories to the deal with Iran are Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, called the U.S. sanctions on Iran “bullying” in a news conference Monday, saying they were “the root cause of the crisis.”
“The U.S. side not only unilaterally withdrew from the agreement but also created more and more obstacles for Iran and other parties to implement the agreement through unilateral sanctions and longarmed jurisdiction,” he said. “It has been proven that unilateral bullying has become a worsening ‘tumor’ and is creating more problems and greater crises on a global scale.”
Chinese officials have long spoken critically of U.S. sanctions on Iran, but the language used Monday was a stronger declaration of blame.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, said Iran’s actions would neither help preserve the agreement “nor secure tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people,” according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
PRESSURE FROM U.S.
The U.S., meanwhile, will not waver from its course of maximum pressure against Iran and “will never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon,” Vice President Mike Pence told a pro-Israel organization in Washington.
His comments were reinforced by national security adviser John Bolton, a longtime advocate of tough measures against Iran. Bolton, also speaking at the event, praised President Donald Trump’s administration for the expansion of U.S. sanctions to cover metals and the petrochemical sector.
“As we pressure the Iranian regime, we will also continue to stand with the long-suffering Iranian people, who as President Trump has said, are the ‘rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land,’” Bolton said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also discussed Iran in his speech to the group, saying America has implemented the “strongest pressure campaign in history against the Iranian regime,” adding, “and we are not done.”
Pence was critical of the international accord negotiated under President Barack Obama’s administration, saying it simply delayed Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon by “roughly a decade” and gave away billions of dollars in economic relief that Iran could use to wage terrorist attacks.
“Iran must choose between caring for its people and continuing to fund its proxies who spread violence and terrorism throughout the region and breathe out murderous hatred against Israel,” Pence said.
Pence said U.S. actions have succeeded in “cutting off” Iran’s ability to support terrorism in the Middle East, but he also said the Islamic Republic had increased its “malign activity and violence in the region” over the past several months.
In response, the U.S. has sent thousands of troops, an aircraft carrier, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the Middle East.
Pence said that “we hope for the best, but the United States of America and our military are prepared to protect our interests and to protect our personnel and citizens in the region.”
“Let me be clear,” he added. “Iran should not confuse American restraint with a lack of American resolve.”
EUROPE’S DILEMMA
Trump discussed the issue by phone Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Macron said he and the Iranian leader are trying to find a way to resume international dialogue by next Monday.
Macron is sending his chief diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, to Tehran today, although it was not immediately clear how long he would stay or with whom he would meet.
European signatories to the nuclear agreement have found themselves in a difficult position, stuck between adhering to the U.S. sanctions and meeting their obligations under the nuclear deal to ease the economic burden on Iran.
U.S. sanctions have targeted Iran’s oil sales and top officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran wants the European signatories to help it sell its crude oil abroad. An international company would also risk U.S. sanctions if it helped Europe trade with Iran outside the exceptions granted for food and medicine.
An Iranian tanker, fully loaded with crude oil, was seized near Gibraltar on Thursday. British authorities have said the ship was bound for Syria and that they detained it not because of the U.S. oil sanctions, but because of the European Union’s separate sanctions on any sales of oil to the war-torn nation.
Hard-liners in Iran have demanded a British oil tanker be seized in response.
Iran’s defense minister called Britain’s action a “provocative move” and said he would summon the British ambassador to account for the decision.
Speaking during a military ceremony Monday, Gen. Amir Hatami said Iran would not tolerate “this act of marine piracy by the U.K.,” adding, “It won’t remain without a response.”
There was some confusion Monday about where the tanker was headed. Mousavi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the vessel had not been bound for Syria, Iranian state media reported.
However, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said the seizure of the tanker was unlawful because Iran was not a member of the EU and not subject to the bloc’s sanctions on Syria.
“UK’s unlawful seizure of a tanker with Iranian oil on behalf of #B—Team is piracy, pure and simple,” he wrote on Twitter, using a derogatory label to refer to Trump’s advisers and some allies.