Will resume enrichment at Turkey says it captured underground plant: Iran sister of dead IS leader
Iran says the whole process would be carried out transparently witnessed by inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Iran would resume uranium enrichment at an underground plant south of Tehran in its latest step back from a troubled 2015 agreement with major powers.
The suspension of all enrichment at the Fordow plant in the mountains near the Shiite holy city of Qom was one of the restrictions on its nuclear activities that Iran accepted in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
But Washington’s abandonment of the deal in May last year followed by its reimposition of crippling sanctions prompted Iran to begin a phased suspension of its own commitments in May this year.
Rouhani recalled that under the terms of the agreement Iran had retained more than 1,000 centrifuges at the plant which had been running empty since it went into effect. “Starting from tomorrow (Wednesday), we will begin injecting (uranium hexafluoride) gas at Fordo,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast by state television.
Iran said the whole process would be carried out transparently witnessed by inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The move is the fourth announced by Iran since it began responding to Washington’s abandonment of its commitments. Iran has repeatedly warned the remaining parties to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — that the agreement can only be rescued if they help it circumvent US sanctions.
European governments have strived to come up with a mechanism that would allow foreign firms to continue to do business with Iran without incurring US penalties. But to Iran’s mounting frustration, their efforts have so far failed to have any significant impact.
The European Union warned Monday that its continued support for the deal depended on Tehran fulfilling its commitments.
Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, said the ISTANBUL: Turkish forces in northern Syria have detained a sister of Abu Bakr al-baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group who was killed in a US raid, a senior Turkish official said Tuesday.
“Turkey has captured Abu Bakr al-baghdadi’s sister” in a raid near the town of Azaz, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
He named the woman as Rasmiya Awad, and said she was born in 1954.
The woman was accompanied by her husband, her daughter-in-law and five children.
“The three adults are being interrogated at this time”, the official said.
He added that the arrest could be “an intelligence gold mine.
“What she knows about ISIS can significantly expand our understanding of the group”, help us catch more members and “help Turkey to better protect itself and the rest of Europe from terrorists”, he said, using another acronym for IS.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the arrests.
“Turkish forces arrested the sister of Baghdadi last night in a camp in the suburbs of the city of Azaz”, said the head of the organisation, Rami Abdel Rahman.
“They arrested her, her husband, her daughter-in law, and her five grandchildren.” He said Slain ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-baghdadi’s sister Rasmiya Awad
‘What she knows about ISIS can significantly expand our understanding of the group, help us catch more members’, a senior Turkish official said
they also detained four other Iraqis, but it was not immediately clear if they were linked to IS or not.
The town of Azaz is located in a region of northwestern Syria that has been under Turkish control since an offensive that it staged in 2016.
US President Donald Trump announced on October 27 the death of Baghdadi in a US special forces raid in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, carried out in coordination with Kurdish militants.
Baghdadi had led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man.
The next day Turkey said that its intelligence services and military had had “intense” contact with their US counterparts on the night of the operation.
Long suspected of allowing the jihadists to cross its border to join Syria after the start of the conflict that has torn the country since 2011, Turkey, hit by several attacks committed by the IS, joined the anti-jihadist coalition in 2015.