Iran to scale back nuclear deal commitments
DUBAI:Iran will announce further moves on Monday to scale back compliance with an international nuclear pact that the US abandoned last year, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
“Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation tomorrow at the Arak heavy water site will announce preparatory steps that have been taken to further decrease Tehran’s commitments under the deal,” Tasnim said, without citing sources. The organisation will announce moves to increase stocks of enriched uranium and production of heavy water at Arak, Tasnim reported.
The US and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe Iran had a nuclear weapons programme that it abandoned. Tehran denies ever having had one. Iran stopped complying in May with some commitments in the 2015 nuclear deal that was agreed with global powers, after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reintroduced sanctions on Tehran.
Iran said in May it would start enriching uranium at a higher level, unless world powers protected its economy from US sanctions within 60 days.
Tensions between the US and Iran have ratcheted up further in recent days, with Washington accusing Tehran of carrying out Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in a vital oil shipping route, which Iran has denied.
Iran’s parliament speaker hinted on Sunday that Washington could be behind the tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman to pile pressure on Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported. “The suspicious actions against the tankers... seem to complement the economic sanctions against Iran considering that (the US) has not achieved any results from them,” Ali Larijani told MPs.
WILL CONFRONT THREATS: SAUDI PRINCE
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in remarks published on Sunday that the kingdom will not hesitate to confront threats to its security and joined the US in accusing its bitter rival Iran of being behind the attacks on two oil tankers.
The US alleges Iran used limpet mines to target the tankers, pointing to black-and-white footage it captured that American officials describe as Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops removing an unexploded mine.
In an interview with the Arabic-language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Prince Mohammed said Iran disrespected the visit to Tehran by the Japanese PM last week by attacking the tankers.
“The problem is in Tehran and not anywhere else,” Prince Mohammed said. “Iran is always the party that’s escalating in the region, carrying out terrorist attacks and criminal attacks either directly or through its militias.”