Another departure from the commitments made by the country to an international community worried about its nuclear ambitions: Iran announced on Friday April 16 that it had started producing uranium enriched to 60% in isotope 235. “Now we are getting nine grams per hour” of this enriched uranium, said the president of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, at the start of the afternoon. The Iranian Tasnim news agency had earlier reported that production of this fissile material, which would bring the Islamic Republic closer to the 90% threshold (which allows military use), had started at the Natanz enrichment plant. , in the center of the country.
Natanz scientists ” working [encore] on how to install the [deux] centrifuge chains’ intended to produce 60% enriched uranium, Salehi added in a telephone interview with state television. ” So, [la] production [d’uranium à] 60% will decrease [vraisemblablement] : it can go from nine grams [par heure] current to six grams, but, at the same time, we will produce [de l’uranium enrichi à] 20% with these two channels ”, he pointed out.
Iran is breaking away from its commitments
After an explosion Sunday in the Natanz enrichment plant, which Tehran blamed on Israel, the Islamic Republic announced on Tuesday that it would enrich this mineral well beyond the 20% it has practiced since January (and well in – beyond, by the same fact, the maximum threshold of 3.67% authorized by the international Iranian nuclear agreement concluded in Vienna in 2015).
Qualified as ” provocation “ by several analysts, this announcement on uranium production is the latest and most spectacular of Iran’s denials of the commitments made by the Islamic Republic in Vienna in 2015. In response to the United States’ withdrawal from the said agreement in 2018, and with the reinstatement of American sanctions, Iran gradually freed itself, from 2019, from most of its key commitments.
Discussions underway in Vienna
On Wednesday, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, the three European countries being parties (along with Russia, China and Iran) in the Vienna agreement, had “Taken note with great concern” of such an announcement. Iranian President Hassan Rohani ruled that these “Concerns” unfounded. “Even today, we can enrich 90% if we want, he stressed on Thursday, but we said it from day one and we keep our word: our nuclear activities are peaceful, we are not seeking the atomic bomb. “
The announcement of the effective launch of the production of 60% uranium in 235U – an unprecedented threshold for the country – comes as discussions take place in Vienna with the aim of saving this pact. A new session of the Vienna talks, which aim to bring Washington back into the deal and cancel the sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, took place on Thursday. She has left “A generally positive impression”, said the Russian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (based in the Austrian capital), Mikhail Ulyanov. Mr. Ulyanov added that ” work “ was to continue this Friday.