Tehran plans to produce uranium at 5% enrichment as tensions with the US build

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Iran has broken the terms of its nuclear deal for a second time by announcing plans to enrich uranium beyond the levels allowed under the terms of the 2015 agreement.

In an escalation of the dispute over US sanctions, the Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi announced on Sunday that Iran will produce uranium at 5% enrichment, above the cap of 3.67%.

Iran’s reduction in its commitments to the 2015 deal would continue every 60 days, he said.

Araghchiadded that Iran had given enough time to diplomacy and that its actions were not a violation of the pact. European governments had failed to fulfil their obligations under the pact, he said.

Iran revealed its first breach of the deal last week, announcing that it had begun stockpiling low-enriched uranium beyond the 300kg limit allowed, a year after the US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions.

“The main announcement will be the increase of the level of enrichment to 5% from 3.67% that we agreed under the deal,” an Iranian official told Reuters.

French president Emmanuel Macron told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani of his “strong concern over the risk of weakening the nuclear agreement” and of the consequences that would follow, his office announced.

In a telephone conversation, Macron said he would consult with the Iranian authorities and international partners concerned with a view to resuming talks involving all concerned parties to bring about the “necessary de-escalation” of the situation, the Élysée palace added.

The deal was aimed at making it harder for Iran to produce a nuclear weapon. At one stage Iran had more than 10,000kg of uranium, with some of it enriched to 20%. A nuclear bomb requires uranium at 90% enrichment.

Iran has tried to put pressure on the European signatories to the deal to combat US sanctions, which it says are a form of “economic warfare”. Britain, France and Germany have been trying to persuade Iran for months to keep to its commitments to the deal, but Tehran has complained they are not doing enough.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Iran said it needed the uranium for use in the power plant in Bushehr, southern Iran. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Sanctions are having a serious effect on the Iranian economy and Iran’s chief demand is that the country be permitted to export crude oil at the same levels as before the US reimposed sanctions. Exports have fallen to about 300,000 barrels per day, compared with the 2.5 million barrels Iran was selling in April 2018.

Ali Akbar Velayati, who is the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adviser on international affairs, said Iranian officials were unanimous in their decision to raise the level of uranium enrichment.

“We need uranium enriched to 5% for use in the Bushehr [power plant] and this is a completely peaceful purpose,” Velayati said.

The US has been building up its military presence in the Middle East, sending an aircraft carrier, thousands of troops and B-52 bombers. Last month a Japanese oil tanker was attacked near the strait of Hormuz, and Iran shot down a US military drone.