The foreign ministries of France, Germany and the United Kingdom “condemn Iran’s latest measures”as reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), “aiming for further expansion of its nuclear program”, according to a joint statement released on Saturday June 15.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday that Iran continues to increase its nuclear capabilities, a week after the agency’s board of governors adopted a resolution criticizing Tehran’s lack of cooperation.
The IAEA informed its members on Thursday that Tehran had told it it was installing more cascades at the Natanz and Fordow enrichment facilities. A cascade is a series of centrifuges and machines used in the uranium enrichment process.
Reacting on Saturday, France, Germany and the United Kingdom believe that “Iran has taken additional steps that gut the JCPoA [en référence à l’accord de Vienne sur le nucléaire iranien signé en 2015] of its contents by powering dozens of additional advanced centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment site” And “by announcing the installation of several hundred additional centrifuges at the Fordow and Natanz sites”.
“These measures will further increase Iran’s stock of enriched uranium and enrichment capabilities, the levels of which have already exceeded the limits set by the JCPoA”denounce the three governments.
“This decision represents a further escalation of Iran’s nuclear program, which carries significant proliferation risks”they estimate, judging “particularly worrying” Iran’s decision “to significantly increase its production capacity in the underground installation” by Fordow.
For the IAEA, Iran is enriching uranium close to weapons grade
According to the three governments, “it is not acceptable that Iran presents these measures as a reaction to adoption” by the board of governors of the agency of its resolution “calling for long-awaited cooperation from Iran on safeguards”. France, Germany and the United Kingdom say they will stay “committed to a diplomatic solution preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon”.
The statement comes amid an impasse over Iran’s escalating nuclear activities and as Western powers fear Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies.
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According to the IAEA, Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium to the high level of 60% – very close to weapons-grade – while continuing to accumulate large stockpiles of uranium. ‘uranium.
The IAEA said Tehran had significantly accelerated its nuclear program and now had enough material to make several atomic bombs. The Islamic Republic has gradually broken with the commitments it made under the nuclear deal concluded with world powers in 2015.
This historic agreement allowed Iran to escape Western sanctions in exchange for limiting its atomic program, but it collapsed after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump in 2018.