According to the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran enriched uranium but did not exceed the 4.5% threshold set by the 2015 Vienna Agreement.
Le Monde avec AFP
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its desire to produce 20% enriched uranium, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna Agreement, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned on Friday January 1 from the UN agency.
“Iran has informed the Agency of its intention to enrich uranium at a rate of up to 20% in the Fordo underground plant, in order to comply with a law recently adopted by the Iranian parliament, “a spokesperson told AFP. The letter, dated December 31, “did not specify when this enrichment activity would be carried out.”
Russian Ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov reported. information a little earlier on Twitter. “This is a further push,” commented a Vienna-based diplomat as Iran increasingly frees itself from its commitments.
According to the latest available report from the UN agency, published in November, Tehran was enriching uranium to a degree of purity higher than the limit provided for by the Vienna agreement ( 3.67%) but did not exceed the threshold of 4.5%, and still complied with the very strict regime of inspections of the Agency. But the case has been in turmoil since the assassination at the end of November of an Iranian nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Hopes for the imminent arrival of Biden
In the wake of this attack attributed to Israel, the toughest wing in Tehran has promised a retaliation, and parliament passed a controversial law urging the production and storage of “at least 120 kilograms per year of 20% enriched uranium” and ” end “to the IAEA inspections, intended to verify that the country does not seek to acquire the atomic bomb.
The Iranian government was opposed to this initiative denounced by the other signatories of the agreement, which in December called on Tehran not to “compromise the future”. “The” democracies “cannot ask Iran to violate parliamentary legislation,” however, warned the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Javad Zarif.
The various stakeholders (China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom) are playing for time, basing hopes on the imminent arrival of Joe Biden at the head of the United States. The Democrat has shown himself determined to save this pact (called JCPoA), undermined since the American withdrawal in May 2018, at the initiative of Donald Trump, and the reinstatement of economic sanctions by the United States.
The dismissal of the inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the resumption of enrichment activities at height of 20%, the level that Iran practiced before the conclusion of the Vienna agreement, would risk referring the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council and permanently torpedoing this text.