Iran over the limit for uranium under deal
In a blow to the pact, Tehran calls on Europe to offer sanctions relief
MANAMA, Bahrain — Iran said Monday that it has exceeded the stockpile limit for low-enriched uranium allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers because Europe has failed to mitigate the effect of U.S. sanctions, a move that could add to the friction between Tehran and Washington.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, confirmed that Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium exceeded the limit of 660 pounds allowed under the deal, spokesman Fredrik Dahl said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the move was “reversible” but warned that Iran could continue to reduce its commitment to the agreement if Europe does not take action to uphold the other side of the deal, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Exceeding the stockpile limit does not put Iran significantly closer to building a nuclear weapon, but it strikes another blow to the deal, which has been in jeopardy ever since the United States unilaterally withdrew last year. The low-enriched uranium, which is enriched to 3.67 percent, is suitable for use as fuel in nuclear power plants but is far short of the weapons-grade level of more than 90 percent needed for a nuclear bomb.
Iran has warned that it could undertake a more serious departure from the terms of the accord Sunday. Iranian officials have said they will move to enrich uranium to a higher level, coming a step closer to attaining weapons-grade material, if the remaining signatories to the accord do not provide sanctions relief by that deadline.
Iran has complained that it cannot reap the economic benefits promised under the nuclear accord because European companies are afraid of running afoul of sanctions reimposed by the U.S. after it pulled out of the pact.
“It’s been on life support for some time and is dying a slow death,” said Ali Ansari, a professor specializing in Iran at Britain’s St. Andrews University. While Iran will “keep pushing and keep pushing” for Europe to aid its economy, “it’s unclear what the Europeans can do.” The U.S. sanctions, combined with the “opaqueness” of the Iranian economy, make the country unattractive for many investors from Europe and elsewhere.
Ansari said he envisages only two ways out of the standoff: a conflict that “nobody wants” or a renegotiation of the deal.
Iran’s decision to exceed the stockpile limit comes amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington. President Donald Trump said late last month that he came close to authorizing strikes against Iran after it shot down a U.S. surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The incident followed attacks on petrochemical tankers in the Gulf of Oman that the U.S. blamed on Iran, a charge Tehran denies.
U.S. officials have suggested that they want Iran to remain within the limits of the nuclear deal, even though the Trump administration withdrew from it, saying U.S. sanctions do not give Iran an excuse to increase uranium production.
On Monday, the Trump administration went further, saying Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium at all. “It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level,” the White House said in a statement.
Henry Rome, an analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote that Iran is “the master of calibrated nuclear escalation. … It will likely push as far as it can without triggering a sanctions response from Europe or a military response from the U.S.”
Tehran wants to show that “it will not take U.S. pressure sitting down,” he continued, adding that the decision to exceed the stockpile limit is in line with other actions Iran and its allies have taken over the past two months, including the alleged rocketing of Iraqi bases and attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. Iran also wants to prod Europe into taking more steps to ease its economic pressure, Rome said.
The remaining signatories to the deal, originally signed by six world powers and Iran, have been scrambling to keep the agreement alive since Trump pulled out. Germany, Britain and France have been working on a complex barter system that would allow European businesses to trade with Iran, but it is limited in scope, focusing on essential goods such as medicine and humanitarian items.
Amid a last-ditch attempt to keep Iran in the deal, the European Union announced that the barter system was active after EU officials met with senior Iranian officials in Vienna on Friday. But no transaction has yet to be completed using the system.
Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, said that two days after the U.S. withdrew from the accord, the Europeans made 11 commitments to keep it alive. Those included the continuing sale of Iranian oil on world markets and the return of frozen Iranian assets and oil sale income, he said.
But the barter system launched by Europe “does not satisfy any of the commitments,” Zarif said. Without fulfilling the commitments, he added, the trading system is “meaningless.”
The Europeans are trying to hold the deal together and don’t want to be rushed into taking steps against Iran. But they say they may have no choice but to trigger clauses that could eventually lead to the reimposition of more sanctions — and a full breakdown of the agreement.
The steps Iran has taken are already making it more difficult for Europeans to get trade flowing through the barter system, called Instex, the diplomats said. The Europeans have been trying to show Tehran goodwill by going ahead with some transactions. But if Iran moves toward a more extensive breach of the deal Sunday, it will become politically difficult to undertake transactions using Instex, one of the diplomats said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that unless Europe took “practical and tangible steps” to make Instex operational before the deadline, Iran would take the “second step” toward reducing its commitment under the agreement: enriching uranium beyond the 3.67 percent level.
Iran has threatened to increase enrichment levels to 20 percent. That would still be less than the level required to manufacture a weapon but would reduce Iran’s “breakout time,” the amount needed to accumulate enough weapons-grade enriched uranium to make one nuclear bomb, experts say.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who campaigned against the nuclear deal and called for the U.S. to withdraw, criticized Iran on Monday for overstepping the limit of 660 pounds. He called on Europe to reimpose sanctions against Iran: “I say to you: Do it. Just do it.”