Iran yesterday said it will boost its uranium enrichment in a few hours above a cap set by a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, a move that could eventually culminate in the return of all international sanctions on Tehran.
In a sign of heightening tensions, France, Germany and Britain — all parties to the deal — expressed concerns over Tehran’s decision.
In a live news conference, senior Iranian officials said Tehran would keep reducing its commitments every 60 days, unless European signatories of the pact protect it from US sanctions imposed by US President Trump.
“We are fully prepared to enrich uranium at any level and with any amount,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation.
“In a few hours the technical process will come to an end and the enrichment beyond 3.67% will begin,” referring to the limit set in the 2015 agreement.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the step was extremely dangerous and again called on Europe to impose punitive sanctions on Tehran, raising the prospect of fresh regional tensions. “The enrichment of uranium is made for one reason and one reason only – it’s for the creation of atomic bombs,” he said.
Tehran shows no sign of caving in to pressure from Trump in a confrontation that has taken on a military dimension, with Washington blaming Tehran for attacks on oil tankers, and Iran shooting down a US drone, prompting aborted US air strikes.
The Europeans, who object to Trump’s withdrawal from the deal last year, have so far failed to salvage the pact by shielding Iran’s limping economy from US sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Iran’s decision as a “violation” of the pact which the United States pulled out of last year.
Iran has broken the terms of the deal and must immediately stop and reverse its activities, a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said yesterday.
A German foreign ministry spokesman gave a similar response.
Iran did leave some room for negotiations. All measures taken by Iran to scale back its commitments to the nuclear deal were “reversible” if the European signatories of the pact fulfilled their obligations, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted yesterday.
The Iran nuclear deal dispute resolution mechanism will not be triggered for now, said a source at Macron’s Elysee office. The French government is giving itself until July 15 to try to get all parties talking again.
Under that so-called snapback, if a series of steps designed to resolve differences fails, sanctions in all previous UN resolutions would be re-imposed.
Daniel Byman, senior fellow for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, said Iran was engaged in a tricky balancing act. “The step is meant to show domestic audiences that Iran is standing up to US pressure. It is also meant to convey a sense of risk to European audiences that Iran may provoke a crisis,” he said.
Under the pact, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67% fissile material, well below the 20% it was reaching before the deal and the roughly 90% suitable for a nuclear weapon.