Alwaght- Iran is starting to enrich uranium to a higher purity than 3.67%, as the European signatories to a 2015 agreement with Tehran miss a 60-day deadline to compensate the adverse impacts of a unilateral pullout by the US.
Iran’s latest cut in its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was announced during a joint news conference by Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi, Administration spokesman Ali Rabiei, and Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran on Sunday, Press TV reported.
Kamalvandi and Araqchi then took topic-based questions, and Rabiei moderated the briefing.
Kamalvandi said that Iran would increase uranium enrichment from the current 3.67% to the level that fulfills the needs of its power plants.
He also noted that the country had not yet decided on the level of enrichment for the Tehran research reactor.
Iran has previously said it needs five-percent enrichment for its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and 20-percent for Tehran research reactor.
Araqchi said that the Europeans were yet to meet Iran’s demands, including regarding a non-dollar direct payment channel with Iran known as INSTEX but were also making certain efforts, indicating that hope was not entirely lost in those efforts.
The Islamic Republic says the suspension of its commitments is not a violation of the JCPOA but is based on Articles 26 and 36 of the agreement itself.
