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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran announced Saturday that it plans to enrich uranium by up to 20 at its underground nuclear facility in Fordo “as soon as possible,” taking its program to a technical step from military-grade degrees as pressure on the West on the ragged atomic agreement increases.
The move comes amid increased tensions between Iran and the United States in the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration, which unilaterally pulled the United States out of the Tehran nuclear deal in 2018.
That triggered a series of growing incidents culminating in an attack by U. S. drones that killed a more sensible Iranian general in Baghdad a year ago, an anniversary coming Sunday that now worries U. S. officials about possible retaliation from Iran.
Iran’s resolve to start enriching itself at 20% a decade ago almost led to an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities, tensions that were only eased by the 2015 atomic agreement. .
Even Ali Akbar Salehi, the leader of the U. S. -trained Iranian Atomic Energy Civil Organization, presented an analogy with the military to describe his agency’s willingness to take the next step.
“We’re like infantrymen and our hands are on the triggers,” Salehi told Iranian national television. “The commander will have to command and we shoot. We are in a position for this and will produce (uranium enriched at 20%) as soon as possible. “possible. “
Iran’s resolution comes after its parliament passed a bill, then passed through a constitutional control body, to increase enrichment and pressure Europe to ease sanctions. It also serves as a tension before the inauguration of U. S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he is in a position to sign the nuclear agreement.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran had informed its inspectors of the resolution in a letter after the news leaked friday night.
“Iran has informed the firm that in order to comply with a legal act followed by the country’s parliament, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization intends to produce a low-enriched uranium matrix. . . up to 20% at Fordo’s fuel enrichment plant,” the IAEA said in a statement.
The IAEA added that Iran had not indicated when it planned to strengthen enrichment, although the firm “has inspectors in Iran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they have normal access to Fordo. “The parliamentary bill also asked Iran to expel these inspectors, although it appears tehran has yet to take this step.
Salehi said Iran will update the herbal uranium in Fordo centrifuges with curtains already enriched to 4% to begin the 20% change procedure.
“This will be done under the supervision of the IAEA,” Salehi added.
Since the collapse of the agreement, Iran has resumed enrichment in Fordo, near the Chiita holy city of Qom, about 90 kilometres southwest of Tehran.
Protected through the mountains, Fordo is surrounded by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. It is the length of a football field, giant enough to house 3000 centrifuges, but small enough and hardened enough to lead U. S. officials to suspect it had an army target. when they publicly exposed it in 2009.
The 2015 agreement saw Iran agree to restrict its enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. The agreement also required for Fordo’s transformation into a center of study and progression.
Under former Iran’s extremist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran has begun a 20% enrichment. Israel, which has its own undeclared nuclear weapons program, feared tehran would build a bomb.
After Fordo’s discovery, the United States worked on so-called “anti-bunker” bombs designed to attack such facilities. While Israel threatened at one point to bomb Iranian nuclear sites like Fordo, the United States allegedly showed them a video of an anti-bunker. -bunker bomb destroying a Style of Fordo in the desert of southwestern America.
Israel, whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to criticize Iran’s nuclear program, made no immediate comment on Saturday.
Iran has lately enriched uranium by up to 4. 5%, in violation of the 3. 67% limit of the deal. Experts say Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium stored for at least two nuclear weapons, if it decides to pursue them. that its nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran initiated the structure of a new site in Fordo, according to satellite images received through the Associated Press in December.
Iran’s announcement coincides with the anniversary of the U. S. drone strike through Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last year. Iran subsequently retaliated by launching a ballistic missile that wounded dozens of U. S. soldiers in Iraq. Tehran also shot down a Ukrainian plane that night, killing the other 176 people on board.
As the anniversary approached, the United States sent B-52 bombers over it and sent a nuclear-powered submarine to the Persian Gulf.
On Thursday, sailors discovered a noise in an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iraq, near the Iranian border, as they prepared to move fuel to another oil tanker owned through a corporation indexed on the New York Stock Exchange. Exchange. No one has claimed the duty of the mining operation, came here after a series of similar attacks in 2019 that the U. S. Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran has denied its involvement.
In November, an Iranian scientist who founded the country’s army’s nuclear program two decades earlier was killed in an attack tehran attributes to Israel.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter on www. twitter. com/jongambrellAP.
Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
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