This archive report was first published on 8 July 2019.
Iran Surpasses Critical Nuclear Enrichment Level in 2015 Deal ¶
Iran has breached a crucial limit on the level of uranium enrichment set out in the 2015 nuclear deal, the country's atomic energy agency said on Monday, July 8, 2019.
According to Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency, the country had surpassed a limit of 3.67 percent uranium enrichment and was prepared to go further. In a later statement, Mr. Kamalvandi told ISNA that the enrichment level was above 4.5 percent.
The change moves Iran closer to the level of uranium enrichment needed to produce nuclear weapons, but Iran has maintained that the higher enrichment level would be for peaceful purposes only.
The United States withdrew from the landmark nuclear accord with other powers and Iran last year and imposed new economic sanctions on Iran in May. Iran has responded with a series of steps away from its obligations under the accord, which was intended to block Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
China has accused the United States of 'bullying' Iran with crippling economic sanctions, with a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry calling the American sanctions 'unilateral bullying'.
European signatories to the nuclear agreement have found themselves in a difficult position, stuck between adhering to the American sanctions that target Iran's oil industry and obligations to ease the economic burden on Iran under the nuclear deal.
Iran has said that reducing its commitments under the deal is not a direct violation of the terms of the nuclear agreement, saying it is exercising its right to react to the United States' walking away from the accord.
