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Iran to surpass uranium stockpile deal limit from June 27: nuclear official
TEHRAN, June 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Iran will surpass the uranium stockpile
limit set under the nuclear deal agreed with world powers from June 27, a top
official said Monday on state television.
“Today the countdown to pass the 300 kilogrammes reserve of enriched
uranium has started and in 10 days time… we will pass this limit,” Iran’s
atomic energy organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said at a press
conference broadcast live.
“This is based on the Articles 26 and 36 of the (nuclear deal), and will be
reversed once other parties live up to their commitments,” he added, speaking
from the Arak nuclear plant south-west of Tehran.
On May 8, President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran would stop observing
restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under
the 2015 nuclear deal.
He said the move was in retaliation for the unilateral US withdrawal from
the accord a year earlier, which saw Washington impose tough economic
sanctions on Tehran.
Iran has threatened to go even further by July 8 unless remaining partners
to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — help it
circumvent US sanctions and especially enable it to sell its oil.
Under the agreement, Iran pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for
several years and allow international inspectors inside the country to
monitor its activities in return for relief from international sanctions.
The deal set a limit on the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges, and
restricted its right to enrich uranium to no higher than 3.67 percent, well
below weapons-grade levels of around 90 percent.
It also called on Iran to export enriched uranium and heavy water to ensure
that the country’s reserves would stay within the production ceiling set by
the agreement, yet recent US restrictions have made such exports virtually
impossible.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1459 hrs