In Further Withdrawal from Nuclear Pact Iran Adds 30 High-Speed Centrifuges

Photo Credit: Unknown via Wikimedia

The chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Wednesday that his country had added 30 IR-6 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium 10 times faster than older machines, Fars News reported. The announcement was made on the 40th anniversary of the take over of the US Embassy in Tehran.

See: Iran Celebrates 40th Anniversary of US Embassy Takeover; ‘Broke Washington’s Fictitious Grandeur’

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Speaking on Iran’s state television, Salehi said, “Today, we are witnessing the launch of the array of 30 IR-6 centrifuges,” stressing that this would show Iran’s “capacity and determination.”

Vice-Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kamal Dehqani Firouzabadi said last Thursday: “We signed the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) to maintain our national interests; so, if the other parties to the deal do not respect their obligations, we will definitely take further steps to reduce our commitments under the deal.”

Over the past half year, Iran has been reducing its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, in response to President Donald Trump’s unilateral dropping of the accord which he followed with sweeping economic sanctions. Tehran is determined to unleash itself from the deal unless the European signatories help it avoid the US sanctions and restore Iranian oil exports.

In October, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi announced that only two more steps remained for his country to end the nuclear deal if the Europeans continue to ignore Tehran’s demands, and “return the country to the pre-JCPOA conditions.”

“As soon as the Fordow nuclear site comes into operation for uranium enrichment and the number of centrifuge machines rises, Iran will practically have no more commitments to the JCPOA and only the monitoring issues will remain,” Kamalvandi warned.

Kamalvandi added that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and the number of centrifuge machines, and noted that “thanks to the pressure of world major powers, we are able to easily manufacture the best centrifuges.”