Page 51 - IRANRptOct20

Iran building nuclear development facility in “heart of mountain”
US tightens sanctions screw on Iran’s metals sector
Russian firms are looking to use technology and knowhow to boost Iranian mining production and potentially export resulting additional output to Russia. The MoU was signed in Tehran by the head of IMEO, Taki Nabaii, and head of the REC, Pavel Bukhanov.
Nabaii said: “According to this memorandum, the ground will be prepared for the development of cooperation between Iran and Russia. The two countries have good opportunities in the mining industry.”
He added that the REC would help Iran import mining equipment.
Iran has commenced building an underground hall “in the heart of a mountain” near the country’s main uranium enrichment centre in Natanz following a July explosion that badly damaged a building housing centrifuges, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said on September 8, state TV reported.
"It was decided to establish a more modern, wider, and more comprehensive hall in all dimensions... near Natanz," he reportedly said, while pointing out it would have a secure location within a mountain.
Officials previously said they had determined that the July 2 incident at the Natanz facility, 250 kilometres south of Tehran, was the result of sabotage. It caused significant damage and it is thought it could slow Iran’s development of advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges.
Those involved in the alleged sabotage would be identified at a later date, the officials added.
Some analysts have suggested that Israel or the US could have been behind the blast—perhaps via a cyberattack—as part of a shadow war waged to put a brake on Tehran's nuclear development programme. Iran has always insisted the programme remains entirely civilian in nature. Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog have been visiting Natanz, which includes underground facilities, to monitor uranium enrichment activities there since Tehran and world powers signed the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Iran resumed uranium enrichment at Natanz in September 2019 in response to the US in May 2018 unilaterally pulling out from the nuclear deal that provided Iran with relief from multilateral sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
The US Treasury Department on June 25 blacklisted four companies in Iran’s metals sector, as well as one German and three Emirati subsidiaries of Iran’s largest steelmaker Mobarakeh Steel Company.
In a statement, the Treasury Department added that the sales agents together generated tens of millions of dollars annually from foreign sales of Mobarakeh Steel Company products, contributing to billions of dollars generated overall by Iran’s steel, aluminium, copper and iron sectors.
“The Iranian regime continues to use profits from metals manufacturers and foreign sales agents to fund destabilizing behavior around the world,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
The sanctions are the latest US effort to tighten the screw on Iran. The latest sanctions action targeted Tara Steel Trading, a Germany-based subsidiary of Mobarakeh Steel Co; United Arab Emirates-based sales agents Pacific Steel FZE, Better Future General Trading Co and Tuka Metal Trading, all majority-owned by Mobarakeh Steel Co; and Iran-based Metil Steel, also majority-owned by the company.
Mobarakeh Steel Co, previously blacklisted by Washington, accounts for 1% of Iran’s GDP, the Treasury said.
The Treasury also blacklisted Iran-based aluminium, steel and iron producers South Aluminum Company, Sirjan Jahan Steel Complex and Iran Central Iron
51​ IRAN Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com