Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency of its willingness to produce uranium enriched to 20%, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna Accord, the government learned. Agence France-Presse (AFP), Friday January 1, with the UN agency.
“Iran has informed the Agency of its intention to enrich uranium at a rate of up to 20% in the Fordo underground plant, in order to comply with a law recently passed by the Iranian parliament “, a spokesperson told AFP. The letter, dated December 31, “Did not specify when this enrichment activity would be implemented œwork ‘.
Russian Ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov reported the information earlier on Twitter. “It’s a boost of additional pressure”, commented a diplomat based in Vienna as Iran frees itself more and more of its commitments.
According to the latest report available from the UN agency, published in November, Tehran was enriching uranium to a degree of purity higher than the limit provided for in the Vienna agreement (3.67%) but not exceeding 4.5% threshold, and still complied with the Agency’s very strict inspection regime. But the case has been experiencing turmoil since the assassination at the end of November of an Iranian nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Hopes for Biden’s upcoming arrival
In the aftermath of the attack attributed to Israel, the toughest wing in Tehran has pledged a response, and parliament passed a controversial law calling for the production and storage at “Less 120 kilograms per year of 20% enriched uranium” and of ” end “ the IAEA inspections, intended to verify that the country is not seeking to acquire the atomic bomb.
The Iranian government was opposed to this initiative denounced by the other signatories of the agreement, who had called in December Tehran not to “Compromise the future”. ” The “democracies” cannot ask Iran to violate parliamentary law ”, however, warned the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Javad Zarif.
The various stakeholders (China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom) are playing for time, basing hopes on the imminent arrival of Joe Biden at the head of the United States. The Democrat has shown himself determined to save this pact (called JCPoA), undermined since the American withdrawal in May 2018, at the initiative of Donald Trump, and the reinstatement of economic sanctions by the United States.
The dismissal of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the resumption of enrichment activities to the tune of 20%, a level that Iran practiced before the conclusion of the Vienna agreement, could risk dismissing the case. nuclear Iran before the Security Council of the United Nations and definitively torpedo this text.
