Page 48 - pd292-Apr21-mag-web

reGionAL rounDup AsiA-pAciFic

Iran starts uranium

enrichment drive

We strongly urge Iran to halt
these activities without delay
and not to take any new non-compliant
step
“s on its nuclear programme. In
escalating its non-compliance, Iran
is undermining the opportunity for
renewed diplomacy to fully realise the
objectives of the JCPoA.

ran has started enriching uranium at its un- ber states dated March 15, referring to ura- pact, also known by the acronym JCPoA,
Iderground Natanz plant with a second type nium hexafluoride, the form in which ura- after the United States withdrew from the
of advanced centrifuge, the IR-4, the UN nium is fed into centrifuges for enrichment. deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on
nuclear watchdog said in a report reviewed Iran has indicated that it now plans to in- Iran.
by Reuters on March 16, in a further breach stall a second cascade of IR-4 centrifuges “We strongly urge Iran to halt these ac-
of Tehran’s deal with major powers. at the FEP, but installation of that cascade tivities without delay and not to take any
Iran has recently accelerated its breach- has yet to begin, the report said. Iran has new non-compliant steps on its nuclear
es of the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear already increased the number of IR-2m programme. In escalating its non-compli-
activities in an apparent bid to pressure machines, which are far more efficient than ance, Iran is undermining the opportunity
US President Joe Biden as both sides are the IR-1, installed at the underground plant. for renewed diplomacy to fully realise the
locked in a standoff over who should move “In summary, as of 15 March 2021, Iran objectives of the JCPoA,” the three Euro-
first to save the deal. was using 5,060 IR-1 centrifuges installed pean states, which are also referred to as
Tehran’s breaches began in 2019 in in 30 cascades, 522 IR-2m centrifuges in- the E3, said.
response to the US withdrawal from the stalled in three cascades and 174 IR-4 cen- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
deal and the reimposition of US economic trifuges installed in one cascade, to enrich Javad Zarif dismissed the E3 statement,
sanctions against Iran under Biden’s pre- natural UF6 up to 5% U-235 at FEP,” the saying Iran’s position on breaching the pact
decessor Donald Trump, who opposed the IAEA report said, referring to the fissile pu- was in line with paragraph 36 of the deal
agreement and sought to wreck it. rity of uranium. governing actions one side could take if it
Last year Iran started moving three cas- Iran is enriching up to 20% purity at an- believe the other was not meeting obliga-
cades, or clusters, of different advanced other plant, Fordow. tions.
models of centrifuge from an above- In February, France, Germany and Brit- “Have our E3 partners ever read para 36
ground plant at Natanz to its below-ground ain condemned Iran’s decision to produce of JCPOA & Iran’s many letters on that ba-
Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP). It is already uranium metal, which they said was in sis?” Zarif said on Twitter.
enriching underground with IR-2m centri- breach of commitments made by Tehran to “By what logic is the onus on IRAN to
fuges. The deal only lets it enrich there with the international community. stop its remedial measures undertaken a
first-generation IR-1 machines. Uranium metal, which Tehran said would full year after the US withdrew from – and
“On 15 March 2021, the Agency verified be used to make fuel for a research reactor, continues to violate – the JCPOA? What
that Iran began feeding the cascade of 174 can also be used in nuclear weapons. have E3 done to fulfill their duties?” he said.
IR-4 centrifuges already installed at FEP The move is the latest breach by Iran – Francois Murphy,
with natural UF6,” the International Atomic of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Sudip Kar-Gupta, Reuters
Energy Agency said in the report to mem- Tehran began incremental violations of the

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