The European Union warned on Monday (4 January) that Iran’s move to enrich uranium to 20% would be a “considerable departure” from Tehran’s commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.
EU spokesman Peter Stano said Brussels would wait until a briefing from the director of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog later in the day before deciding what action to take.
Iran has started the process to enrich uranium to 20% purity at its underground Fordow facility, state media reported earlier on Monday, going well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 nuclear deal.
It is the latest and most important suspension of nuclear commitments by Iran under the landmark deal, starting in 2019, and in response to President Donald Trump’s dramatic withdrawal from the accord in May 2018, with the US imposing crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.
“The process for producing 20% enriched uranium has started at Shahid Alimohammadi enrichment complex (Fordow),” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said, quoted on the website of the state broadcaster.
According to the official, President Hassan Rouhani ordered the enrichment “in recent days”, and “the gas injection process started as of hours ago”.
On 31 December Iran informed IAEA that it would begin producing uranium enriched to up to 20% purity, the level it had before the nuclear deal was reached.
According to the latest IAEA report available, published in November, Tehran was previously enriching uranium to levels greater than the limit provided for in the 2015 Vienna agreement (3.67%) but not exceeding the 4.5% threshold, and still complied with the agency’s strict inspection regime.
But there has been turmoil since the assassination in late November of Iranian nuclear physicist Fakhrizadeh.
In the aftermath of the attack, blamed on Israel, hardliners in Tehran pledged a response and the conservative-dominated parliament passed a bill “for the lifting of sanctions and protection of the Iranian people’s interests”.
