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50 I Eurasia bne July 2019
Iranian journalists were invited to Iran's Arak heavy water nuclear reactor to hear officials outline Tehran's latest stance on compliance with the nuclear deal.
Iran cranks up nuclear deal pressure with “20%” uranium threat bne IntelliNews
The move by the US made at the begin- ning of May to try to force all Iranian oil exports – the lifeblood of Iran’s economy – out of world markets may prove to be the straw that broke the camel’s back if the Iranians do go ahead with an exit from the JCPOA in protest that it is not delivering anything like what it is sup- posed to.
Iran signed the accord in late 2015 to secure a shield against heavy sanctions in return for compliance with measures aimed at blocking any pathway Teh-
ran could take to developing a nuclear weapon. Deal signatories France, Ger- many, the UK, Russia and China, and the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) have always vouched that Iran has not breached the agreement, but demanding a broader, tougher nuclear deal, US President Donald Trump in May last year unilaterally pulled Washington out of the multilateral pact.
Responding to the plans outlined by Kamalvandi, French President Emman- uel Macron urged Iran to be patient and responsible and the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: “We will cer- tainly not accept a unilateral reduction of obligations.”
“Nuclear extortion”
The US accused Iran of "nuclear extortion", with US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus
saying: "This is a pattern of 40 years of behaviour, it's consistent with how the Iranian regime behaves. We would say to the international community that we should not yield to nuclear extortion by the Iranian regime."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has always been fiercely opposed to the JCPOA, called for international sanctions to be reimposed immediately "should Iran deliver on its current threats".
"In any event, Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weaponry," he warned.
The EU gave its assent to an unpublished timetable with Tehran last week to help ease trade between Iran and European nations. However, it is not clear whether
Iran’s atomic agency said on June 17 that Tehran might start the process of enriching uranium up to 20%, closer to weapons-grade, from July 7. The move was seen as a significant escala- tion of the Iranians’ recently adopted strategy of turning up the heat on the remaining nuclear deal signatories to do more to help Iran’s economy if they want to see the accord kept intact.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Authority, threatened the possible development after announcing that Iran has already sped up its countdown to breaching the nuclear deal by enriching uranium at a rate that will mean it breaching its ura- nium stockpile limit in the next 10 days.
Kamalvandi said Iran needed 5% enrich- ment for its nuclear power plant in the southern Iranian port of Bushehr and 20% enrichment for a Tehran research reactor. The nuclear deal limited Iran to enriching uranium to 3.67%, which is enough for power plants and peaceful purposes. Ninety percent is considered
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weapons grade. Experts say the techni- cal leap necessary to get to 90% concen- tration from 20% is relatively straight- forward, because enrichment becomes less challenging at higher levels. Moving from the natural state of 0.7% concen- tration to 20% takes 90% of total energy required, they say.
Tremendous pressure
Iran’s economy is under tremendous pressure from US sanctions but, despite promises, particularly from Europe,
the remaining five major power signa- tories to the nuclear deal (formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,
or JCPOA) have in the eyes of the Iranians done next to nothing to help protect their country’s trade. "In 10 days' time... we will pass this limit," Kamal- vandi added. "There is still time for the Europeans... But the Europeans have expressed indirectly their inability to act. They should not think that after the 60 days [outlined in the original ultimatum given my Iran for securing more nuclear deal economic benefits], they will have another 60-day opportunity."