Concern as Iran to resumes uranium-enriching project
IRAN plans to begin enriching uranium again at its Fordow nuclear facility at the weekend, a move that contravenes a 2015 international deal that sought to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons.
While Iran announced this step yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board held an emergency session in Vienna to discuss indications that Tehran has recently raised obstacles in its co-operation with IAEA inspectors.
About 2 000kg of uranium gas have been shipped to the Fordow and injected into 1 044 centrifuges, which until this point had been inactive.
The centrifuges still need to be stabilised, which will take until the weekend, Iranian nuclear organisation (AEOI) spokeseperson Behrouz Kamalvandi told the ISNA news agency yesterday. Then the uranium enrichment to 4.5%t can begin.
The IAEA has been notified that the Fordow centrifuges are in operation and IAEA inspectors will present today, he added.
Under the terms of the 2015 Vienna Agreement, the Fordow facility was only to be used for scientific research and its centrifuges may only be tested without gas injections. The deal also puts a 3.67% cap on uranium enrichment.
This fourth stage of Iran’s partial departure from the terms of the nuclear deal led to criticism and concern from the international community, including Russia, an Iranian ally.
The deal has been in jeopardy since May last year, when the US withdrew from the deal and revived sanctions on Tehran.
The cap on uranium enrichment was a cornerstone of the nuclear deal in terms of preventing Iran from developing nuclear arms.
At the meeting of the IAEA governing board, the EU and US expressed their deep concern about two additional issues, an incident involving an IAEA inspector and Iran’s lack of co-operation on explaining the origin nuclear particles that the IAEA has found at a site that Tehran has never declared as a nuclear installation.
A senior Iranian diplomat said that the inspector had triggered an explosives security detector at one of its uranium facilities in October.
The IAEA did not help resolve the issue when it recalled the woman to Vienna, Ambassador Kazem Gharib Abadi said.
“There is no doubt that there were suspicious materials involved in this incident,” he told reporters yesterday, reminding them of previous sabotage attempts against Iran’s nuclear programme.
US envoy Jackie Wolcott warned Tehran against using IAEA staff as political pawns.
“If the Iranian regime thinks it can test the international community’s resolve on this issue, then we assure you the US will not waver,” Wolcott told the board.
Regarding the unexplained nuclear particle finds, the EU said it was deeply concerned about the IAEA’s difficulties “in obtaining from Iran a convincing and satisfactory explanation”.
A US official said this raised the question about what other things Iran might continue to be hiding from nuclear inspectors. |