Iran warned of consequences over abandoning nuclear deal
● Iranian regime gives 60 days notice that it will resume enriching uranium
Iran has been warned there will be“consequences” if it breaks the terms of the international deal which saw sanctions relaxed in return for Tehran giving up military nuclear ambitions.
The Iranian regime gave 60 days notice that it will resume enriching uranium unless the remaining signatories to the deal - the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia - act to protect it from American sanctions imposed after President Donald Trump pulled the US out last year.
Speaking alongside US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a press conference following talks in London, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that Britain remained committed to the 2015 deal and urged Iran to stick to its commitments.
Denouncing Iran’s move as an “unwelcome step”, Mr Hunt said: “I urge Iran not to take fur there scala tory steps and to stand by its commitments.
“Sanctions were lifted in exchange for restrictions on Iran’ s nuclear programme. Should Iran cease to observe its nuclear commitments, there would of course be consequences. For as long as Iran keeps its commitments, then so to o will the United King - dom.”
Mr Hunt warned that Iran’s neighbours would certainly seek nuclear weapons status if Tehran did so, in what he said would be “a massive step back” for the region’s security. Despite months of US pressure on the UK to follow its rejection of the 2015 deal, Mr Pompeo insisted the two allies were “on the same side” over Iran.
Citing the history of Winston Churchill “staring evil in the face” in the Second World War, the Secretary of State said: “We’re on the same side, we’re on the side of values- driven democracy, we’re on the side of freedom.
“We’re on the side of creating a nation for the Iranian people, where they can have religious freedom and they can have democracy.”
Iran’ s move comes a year after President Trump withdrew from the accord, rais - ing tensions as a US aircraft carrier and a bomber wing deploy to confront unspecified threats from Tehran.
In a televised address, President Hassan Rouhani also said Iran would stop exporting excess uranium and heavy water from its nuclear pro - gram me, two requirements of the deal.
He did not elaborate on the degree to which Tehran was prepared to enrich uranium, which at high levels of enrichment can be used in nuclear weapons.
Mr Rouhani said Iran wanted to negotiate new terms with remaining partners in the deal, but acknowledged that the situation was dire.
“We felt that the nuclear deal needs surgery and the painkiller pills of the last year have been ineffective,” Mr Rouhani said .“This surgery is for saving the deal, not destroying it .”
The 2015 agreement lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear pro - gram me. After the US withdrew from the accord it restored crippling sanctions on Iran, exacerbating a severe economic crisis. Mr Rouhani also said that if the 60 days pass without action, Iran will halt a Chinese-led effort to redesign its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor. Such reactors produce plutonium that can be used in nuclear weapons. Tehran reached the deal with world powers in 2015 after years of negotiations, including secret talks with Barack Ob a ma’s administration in Oman. Western governments had long feared Iran’s atomic programme could allow it to build nuclear weapons.
Tehran has always maintained its programme is for peaceful purposes. Currently, the accord limits Iran to enriching uranium to 3.67 per cent, which can fuel a commercial nuclear power plant. Weapons-grade uranium needs to be enriched to around 90 per cent. However, once a country enriches uranium to around 20 per cent, scientists say the time needed to reach 90 per cent is halved.