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A30 world news
Dialuna 4 Januari 2021

Iran plans 20% uranium enrichment 'as soon as possible'

The 2015 deal saw Iran agree to limit
its enrichment in exchange for sanc-
tions relief. The accord also called for
Fordo to be turned into a research-
and-development facility.

Under Iran's former hard-line Presi-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Teh-
ran began 20% enrichment. Israel,
which has its own undeclared nuclear
weapons program, feared Tehran was
building a bomb.
After the discovery of Fordo, the U.S.
worked on so-called “bunker buster”
bombs designed to strike such fa-
cilities. As Israel threatened at one
point to bomb Iranian nuclear sites
like Fordo, U.S. officials reportedly
showed them a video of a bunker-
buster bomb destroying a mock-up
of Fordo in America’s southwestern
desert.

Israel, which under Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has continued
to criticize Iran's nuclear program,
offered no immediate comment Sat-
urday.

As of now, Iran is enriching uranium
up to 4.5%, in violation of the ac-
cord’s limit of 3.67%. Experts say Iran
now has enough low-enriched urani-
um stockpiled for at least two nuclear
weapons, if it chose to pursue them.
Iran long has maintained its nuclear
program is peaceful.
(AP) — Iran said Saturday it plans an state television. "The commander ment, the Atomic Energy Organiza-
to enrich uranium up to 20% at its should command and we shoot. We tion of Iran intends to produce low- Iran separately has begun construc-
underground Fordo nuclear facil- are ready for this and will produce enriched uranium ... up to 20 percent tion on a new site at Fordo, according
ity “as soon as possible,” pushing (20% enriched uranium) as soon as at the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant,” to satellite photos obtained by The
its program a technical step away possible.” the IAEA said in a statement. Associated Press in December.
from weapons-grade levels as it
increases pressure on the West The White House had no immediate The IAEA added Iran did not say Iran's announcement coincides with
over the tattered atomic deal. comment and referred to a statement when it planned to boost enrichment, the anniversary of the U.S. drone
issued in December by Secretary of though the agency “has inspectors striking Revolutionary Guard Gen.
The move comes amid heightened State Mike Pompeo after Iran's par- present in Iran on a 24/7 basis and Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last
tensions between Iran and the U.S. in liament passed a bill on increasing they have regular access to Fordo.” year. That attack later saw Iran re-
the waning days of the administration uranium enrichment. Pompeo con- The parliamentary bill also called on taliate by launching a ballistic missile
of President Donald Trump, who demned the law as “nothing more Iran to expel those inspectors, though strike injuring dozens of U.S. troops
unilaterally withdrew America from than the regime's latest ploy to use its it appears Tehran still hasn't decided in Iraq. Tehran also accidentally shot
Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2018. nuclear program to try to intimidate to take that step. down a Ukrainian passenger jet that
the international community.” night, killing all 176 people on board.
That set in motion an escalating series Salehi said Iran would need to switch
of incidents capped by a U.S. drone A spokesman for President-elect Joe out natural uranium in centrifuges at As the anniversary approached, the
strike that killed a top Iranian general Biden’s transition team declined to Fordo for material already enriched U.S. has sent B-52 bombers flying
in Baghdad a year ago, an anniversary comment. to 4% to begin the process of going over the region and sent a nuclear-
coming Sunday that has American to 20%. powered submarine into the Persian
officials now worried about possible Iran's decision comes after its parlia- “It should be done under IAEA su- Gulf.
retaliation by Iran. ment passed a bill, later approved by pervision,” Salehi added.
a constitutional watchdog, aimed at On Thursday, sailors discovered a
Iran's decision to begin enriching to hiking enrichment to pressure Eu- Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has limpet mine on a tanker in the Per-
20% a decade ago nearly brought an rope into providing sanctions relief. resumed enrichment at Fordo, near sian Gulf off Iraq near the Iranian
Israeli strike targeting its nuclear fa- It also serves as pressure ahead of the Shiite holy city of Qom, some 90 border as it prepared to transfer fuel
cilities, tensions that only abated with the inauguration of President-elect kilometers (55 miles) southwest of to another tanker owned by a com-
the 2015 atomic deal. A resumption Biden, who has said he is willing to Tehran. pany traded on the New York Stock
of 20% enrichment could see that re-enter the nuclear deal. Exchange. No one has claimed re-
brinksmanship return. Shielded by the mountains, Fordo is sponsibility for the mining, though it
The International Atomic Energy ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other comes after a series of similar attacks
Even Ali Akbar Salehi, the U.S.-edu- Agency acknowledged Iran had in- fortifications. It is about the size of a in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed on
cated head of the civilian Atomic En- formed its inspectors of the decision football field, large enough to house Iran. Tehran denied being involved.
ergy Organization of Iran, offered a by a letter after news leaked overnight 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hard-
military analogy to describe his agen- Friday. ened enough to lead U.S. officials In November, an Iranian scientist
cy's readiness to take the next step. to suspect it had a military purpose who founded the country's military
“Iran has informed the agency that in when they exposed the site publicly nuclear program two decades earlier
“We are like soldiers and our fingers order to comply with a legal act re- in 2009. was killed in an attack Tehran blames
are on the triggers,” Salehi told Irani- cently passed by the country’s parlia- on Israel.