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Iran ‘preparing activities’ in case nuclear deal fails

By AFP
June 07, 2018

VIENNA: Iran said Wednesday it was in “preparatory works” to restart nuclear activities in the event of the failure of the 2015 accord between Iran and world powers.

In such a scenario, Iran could “restart its activities without any limits,” Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA’s board in Vienna.

The future of the deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — has been thrown into doubt after President Donald Trump announced last month that the US would withdraw from the accord and re-impose sanctions.

The preparatory works mentioned by Najafi refer to steps to boost uranium enrichment capacity by producing new centrifuges, as outlined on Tuesday by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation.

Najafi said that in addition Iran had notified the IAEA of a plan to restart activity at its uranium conversion facility in Isfahan to produce the UF6 feedstock for centrifuges.

The IAEA confirmed on Tuesday that it had “received a letter from Iran on 4 June informing the Agency that there is a tentative schedule to start production of UF6”. However, Najafi emphasised that the measures do “not mean that right now Iran will start any activities contrary to the JCPOA”.On Wednesday Najafi said that negotiations were still continuing at an expert level but that it could not be an “endless process” and needed to be concluded “very soon”.

Asked about the IAEA’s call for Iran to provide “timely and active cooperation” with the inspections mandated under the JCPOA, Najafi said that Iran had interpreted this as encouragement to extend voluntary invitations to the agency to conduct inspections.

However he said that “while Iran is not benefiting from the deal, no one should expect Iran to implement... voluntary measures”.China urged all parties to the Iran nuclear deal to uphold the pact on Wednesday after Tehran unveiled plans to boost uranium enrichment capacity following Washington’s pullout from the agreement.

Meanwhile, France, Britain, Germany and the EU on Wednesday sent the United States a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from punitive measures resulting from fresh US sanctions on Iran. “As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe’s security interests,” said the letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the three countries and the EU were asking the US “to exempt European businesses doing legitimate trade in Iran from all extraterritorial American sanctions”. “Those businesses must be able to pursue their activities,” he wrote on Twitter.