Iran breaks limit on uranium stocks
Iran has carried out its threat to breach the 2015 nuclear deal by exceeding limits on its enriched uranium stockpile, bringing the frayed international agreement closer to collapse.
A year after the US pulled out of the deal, Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country had deliberately exceed a 300kg cap on its enriched uranium stockpile. ‘‘Iran has crossed the 300kg limit based on its plan,’’ he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, confirmed yesterday afternoon that Iran had exceeded the 300kg level.
Iran’s government announced last month that it would start breaching the deal in protest at US sanctions on Iran’s economy and Europe’s lack of action to ease the impact of the sanctions. While exceeding the limit on low-grade uranium is only a minor step towards a potential nuclear weapon, Tehran has threatened a more serious breach on July 8 by resuming enrichment of higher-grade uranium.
Iran’s behaviour presents Britain, France, and Germany – the European states who have defended the nuclear agreement – with a stark choice. They can reimpose sanctions on Tehran, and risk destroying the nuclear deal altogether, or try to convince Iran to return to compliance with agreement.
Jeremy Hunt, the British Foreign Secretary, said he was ‘‘deeply worried by Iran’s announcement’’ but that the UK remained committed to the deal.
‘‘I urge Iran to avoid any further steps away from [the nuclear deal] and come back into compliance,’’ he added.
The US pulled out of the agreement in 2018, and European diplomats now
fear that Iran is on course to crash out, effectively killing it and potentially increasing the chances of war.
Iran said yesterday that it was prepared to go back to complying if the European powers can deliver the economic benefits that Tehran was promised during the 2015 deal negotiations.
The European states’ main effort to convince Iran to stay in the agreement has been focused on a financial mechanism known as Instex, designed to circumvent US sanctions and allow European firms to trade with Iran.
It became operational this week, but there is so far little sign that it will succeed in providing the kind of broad economic relief that Tehran wants.
Eric Brewer, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said: ‘‘The chances of Europe or other countries taking the steps Iran is asking for are slim, so Iran has some big decisions to make about how far it’s willing to take its nuclear escalation.’’
Iran has warned it will carry out a more serious breach of the deal on July 8 by resuming enrichment of high-grade uranium that could eventually be used for a nuclear weapon.
The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is reluctant to engage in a war with Iran and hopes to one day resume negotiations. Iran has said it will not negotiate with the US under the pressure of sanctions.
‘‘I urge Iran to avoid any further steps away from [the nuclear deal] and come back into compliance.’’ Jeremy Hunt, British Foreign Secretary