The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrooz Kamalvandi said on Tuesday that the volume of stockpiled uranium enrichment has currently exceeded 300kg, adding that the rate of accumulating enriched uranium will accelerate in the future.

Kamalvandi said that enrichment is like a locomotive that as it advances, it adds to its speed.

“We have no plan to surpass the 4.5% enrichment level; we will stay at this level for now. Enrichment is like a fast train whose next station is 20% after the 4.5%,” the AEOI said, according to the news service of the Iranian Parliament ICANA.

The senior nuclear official added that Iran can produce the fuel needed over the next years by the Tehran reactor if it is not supplied from outside.

He further noted that Iran does not currently need 20% enrichment.

His comments come after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said today that Iran will definitely continue reductions in its JCPOA-related commitments.

On 8 May, the anniversary of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iran announced that it was partially discontinuing its obligations under the JCPOA and urged nuclear deal signatories – China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom – to shield Tehran from Washington's sanctions.

Tehran says its countermeasures fit within its rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, and that it will reverse the measures once its demands are met.

Iran has already implemented the first and second phases of its actions in reducing its JCPOA commitments by increasing the stockpile of enriched uranium above the 300kg outlined by the JCPOA and has increased the level of uranium enrichment above the 3.67% level. It has warned that it will increase the enrichment level to 20% if the other parties continue to not abide by their commitments under the deal.

KI/4668368