By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Iran took a step in the right direction, although much belatedly, by deciding to produce enriched uranium metal for improving the quality and quantity of its radio-pharmaceutical products in order to meet the growing requirements of the nation in this vital field.
As a formality, Tehran consequently informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its decision, as part of its peaceful use of nuclear energy that not only ensures the Islamic Republic’s industrial-technological independence, but also guarantees peace and stability in the whole region.
According to experts in the field of nuclear science, uranium silicide plates enriched to 20 percent purity are solely civilian in nature, and among their various industrial benefits are to be used as fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.
This important breakthrough after years of self-restraint that saw the other sides to an international accord inked in Geneva in 2015 violate their own commitments and renege on their pledges to provide Iran with necessary technology, makes the Islamic Republic one of the leading world countries in this particular field.
Surprisingly, instead of praising Iran for its principled policy of informing the IAEA of it peaceful nuclear moves that are a mere formality for a country which is fully committed to the NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty) and is not obliged to observe any defunct agreement, the dangerously nuclear-armed states of the US, France, Germany, and Britain, are trying to create a fuss.
Of course, these countries won’t be able to prevent Iran from using the skills and capabilities of its nuclear scientists to achieve self-sufficiency in this field. Their main intention is to try to tarnish the peaceful image of the Islamic Republic and portray it as a violator of the now virtually defunct JCPOA.
The whole world, however, knows that the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action that was worked out in Geneva six years ago, was soon violated by the US, which technically is no longer a party to it. This means its sanctions against Iran have no legal basis and are nothing but economic terrorism.
The international community also knows that the ‘Big European Three’, that is, France, Germany, and Britain, never fully honoured their commitments to the JCPOA, which though a temporary time-limited accord, was highly flawed, since it never curtailed the dangerous nuclear weapons-manufacturing projects of the other parties and moreover gave the US an unwarranted veto-power to ratify it every three months, besides bringing no benefits for Iran, except release of some paltry sums of its illegally frozen multibillion dollar reserves in foreign banks.
So in view of these undeniable facts and realities, it is nothing but sheer hypocrisy on the part of the western powers to call Iran’s latest peaceful move a ‘serious violation’ of the badly violated JCPOA, or their claim that “Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production.”
Wonder, who the hell are the US, France, Germany, and Britain, to determine Iran’s needs in the civilian nuclear field, when they indulge in unrestrained experiments and production of nuclear weapons!
Whether or not the violators unconditionally rejoin and return to the JCPOA, Iran will no longer submit to blackmail, including the veto-power to the US to ratify it every three months.
As per the clauses of the Geneva Accord, Iran has informed the IAEA that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20% U-235 is to be shipped to the R&D laboratory at a plant in Isfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20% U-235, before using it to manufacture the fuel.
This is indeed a step in the right direction and a precursor to more significant moves by the Islamic Republic of Iran for peaceful use of nuclear energy (even if it means 60 percent uranium enrichment) for the country’s self-sufficiency and the peace and stability of region where western powers have long pursued a policy of destabilization.