Tehran plans to start advanced centrifuges
TEHRAN, Iran, Oct 8, (Agencies): Iran plans to start using a new array of advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium, the country’s nuclear chief said according to state television, in a move likely to intensify pressure on Europe to save Tehran’s collapsing nuclear deal with world powers.
Ali Akbar Salehi told Iranian state TV that an array of 30 IR-6 centrifuges will be inaugurated in the coming weeks.
Under the terms of its 2015 deal – which the US unilaterally withdrew from over a year ago – Iran had committed to not using the array until late 2023.
Iran has steadily increased its breaches of the nuclear accord as it pushes its European partners to find a way around US sanctions that have kept it from selling oil abroad and crippled the Iranian economy.
Salehi also said Iran is now producing up to 6 kg of enriched uranium daily.
“It means we have restored predeal” capacity, he said.
In September, Iran inaugurated an array of 20 IR-6 centrifuges that can produce enriched uranium 10 times as fast as the IR-1 that Iran was already using.
Iran is currently enriching uranium to about 4.5 percent. Prior to the nuclear deal, it only reached up to 20 percent, which is a short technical step away from the weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
Meanwhile on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Baghdad with Iraqi President Barham Salih and other Iraqi officials.
Lavrov told reporters after meeting his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Ali al-Hakim that the aim of Moscow and Baghdad is to “reduce escalation and we have a unified stance on putting forward initiatives regarding the Gulf region.”
Al-Hakim says he and Lavrov talked about reducing tension and protecting shipping in the Gulf.
Regionals tensions spiked last month after a drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil facility that shook global energy markets. The US said Iran was behind the attack. Tehran denied the charge and said any retaliatory strikes by the US or Saudi Arabia could lead to “all-out war.”
Sanctions have led to Iran’s oil industry falling behind but Iran will resist, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Tuesday, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
“The conditions in Iran are in a way that once every few years the oil industry receives a deadly blow and the economic sanctions can be considered one of those,” he said. “This has caused Iran’s oil industry to fall behind from the international position and space but we will resist in this area.”
The new EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security-designate, Josep Borrell, Monday called for easing of tensions in the Arab Gulf but also expressed his opposition to sending of naval forces to the region.
“There has been discussion in the EU for providing naval escort in the Strait of Hormuz but no decision has been taken. I don’t see any agreement being taken to that effect in the near future,” he told a hearing hosted by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
“I think we should convene a regional conference under the EU auspices so that all parties involved can enter into a dialogue that will allow them to deescalate the situation,” he said.
“Sending further naval forces at the time when circumstances might lead to a conflict being sparked off with unforeseeable conclusions will not be the best solution. It is far better to work for de-escalation and that’s where we could play a vital role,” said Borrell.