Iran Informs IAEA of More Centrifuges at Natanz
VIENNA (Dispatches) – Iran has told the UN nuclear agency it plans to install three more cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, the agency told member states on Friday in a report cited by Reuters.
"Iran informed the Agency that the operator of the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz ‘intends to start installation of three cascades of IR-2m centrifuge machines’ at FEP,” the agency wrote, adding that the three cascades were in addition to one of IR-2m machines already used for enrichment there.
Iran responded Wednesday to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist by enacting a law ordering an immediate ramping up of its enrichment of uranium.
The measure also requires the expulsion of nuclear inspectors if American sanctions are not lifted by early February.
The new law orders the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to resume enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent immediately, returning Iran’s program to the maximum level that existed before the 2015 nuclear agreement reached with the Obama administration.
The new law also sets a two-month deadline for oil and banking sanctions against Iran to be lifted before inspectors are barred. The inspections are conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a branch of the United Nations.
The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf said the measure was meant to send the West a message in the aftermath of the assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh that the "one-way game is over.”
Iran’s Parliament initially passed the law in an angry session on Tuesday in which lawmakers fumed over the assassination. A physicist and a high-ranking official in the Defense Ministry, he was assassinated on Friday in a complex ambush, the details of which are still being debated.
A number of intelligence officials have said Israel was responsible for the attack, though the occupying regime has remained silent.
"The criminal enemy will not feel remorse unless we show a fierce reaction,” Qalibaf said. Lawmakers stood up in the chamber with fists in the air, chanting "death to Israel” and "death to America” as they passed the bill in a televised session.
The law was ratified Wednesday by Iran’s Guardian Council, an appointed body that oversees the elected government.
President Hassan Rouhani, whose government negotiated the 2015 Iran accord over the objection of Iranian hard-liners, had opposed the legislation, calling it counterproductive.
"The government does not agree with this legislation and considers it damaging for diplomacy,” he said Wednesday before the measure was ratified.
His government is now obliged to carry out the law, though experts noted that it could slow-walk the effort, citing technical challenges.
By mandating a restoration of production and enrichment levels, the new law essentially wipes away the last of the main constraints negotiated by President Barack Obama and a team of diplomats led by Secretary of State John Kerry.Under that agreement, which the Trump administration abandoned in 2018, Iran shipped
most of its nuclear stockpile out of the country, to Russia. The agreement also limited enrichment to under 4 percent.
A year after Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord, Iran began rebuilding the stockpile and inching up the enrichment levels.
"I think the law is a clear sign that Tehran will not be taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude toward Biden’s Iran policy,” said Henry Rome, a senior Iran analyst at Eurasia Group. "Tehran wants to be at the top of the agenda for the new administration, and escalating its nuclear program is a surefire way to do it.”
"Iran informed the Agency that the operator of the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz ‘intends to start installation of three cascades of IR-2m centrifuge machines’ at FEP,” the agency wrote, adding that the three cascades were in addition to one of IR-2m machines already used for enrichment there.
Iran responded Wednesday to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist by enacting a law ordering an immediate ramping up of its enrichment of uranium.
The measure also requires the expulsion of nuclear inspectors if American sanctions are not lifted by early February.
The new law orders the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to resume enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent immediately, returning Iran’s program to the maximum level that existed before the 2015 nuclear agreement reached with the Obama administration.
The new law also sets a two-month deadline for oil and banking sanctions against Iran to be lifted before inspectors are barred. The inspections are conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a branch of the United Nations.
The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf said the measure was meant to send the West a message in the aftermath of the assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh that the "one-way game is over.”
Iran’s Parliament initially passed the law in an angry session on Tuesday in which lawmakers fumed over the assassination. A physicist and a high-ranking official in the Defense Ministry, he was assassinated on Friday in a complex ambush, the details of which are still being debated.
A number of intelligence officials have said Israel was responsible for the attack, though the occupying regime has remained silent.
"The criminal enemy will not feel remorse unless we show a fierce reaction,” Qalibaf said. Lawmakers stood up in the chamber with fists in the air, chanting "death to Israel” and "death to America” as they passed the bill in a televised session.
The law was ratified Wednesday by Iran’s Guardian Council, an appointed body that oversees the elected government.
President Hassan Rouhani, whose government negotiated the 2015 Iran accord over the objection of Iranian hard-liners, had opposed the legislation, calling it counterproductive.
"The government does not agree with this legislation and considers it damaging for diplomacy,” he said Wednesday before the measure was ratified.
His government is now obliged to carry out the law, though experts noted that it could slow-walk the effort, citing technical challenges.
By mandating a restoration of production and enrichment levels, the new law essentially wipes away the last of the main constraints negotiated by President Barack Obama and a team of diplomats led by Secretary of State John Kerry.Under that agreement, which the Trump administration abandoned in 2018, Iran shipped
most of its nuclear stockpile out of the country, to Russia. The agreement also limited enrichment to under 4 percent.
A year after Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord, Iran began rebuilding the stockpile and inching up the enrichment levels.
"I think the law is a clear sign that Tehran will not be taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude toward Biden’s Iran policy,” said Henry Rome, a senior Iran analyst at Eurasia Group. "Tehran wants to be at the top of the agenda for the new administration, and escalating its nuclear program is a surefire way to do it.”