DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran’s president on Wednesday called Tehran’s decision to enrich uranium to 60% after saboteurs attacked a nuclear world “a response to your evil”, which linked the incident with the ongoing talks in Vienna on the fragmented nuclear deal. with world powers.
Israel, which did not comment on the attack, is suspected of assaulting the Natanz nuclear power plant over the weekend, as part of a growing shadow war between the two countries.
The increase in enrichment could lead to further retaliation, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised never to allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. His country has bombed Middle Eastern countries twice for the time being to stop their nuclear programs.
In his cabinet, a passionate president, Hassan Rouhani, said damaged first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Natanz would be replaced with advanced IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium much faster.
“You wanted to empty our hands during the talks, but our hands are full,” Rouhani said.
He added: “60% enrichment is an answer to your evil. … We both cut off your hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges and one with 60%. ‘
Iran announced on Tuesday that it would enrich uranium to its highest level ever in response to the weekend attack on Natanz. It also includes another 1000 “more advanced” centrifuges.
Officials initially said the enrichment would begin Wednesday. However, an early Wednesday tweet from Iran’s delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibadadi, suggested it could come later. He wrote that the enrichment would only be handled by two cascades of IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz. A waterfall is a group of centrifuges that work together to enrich uranium faster.
“The adaptation of the process has just begun and we expect to collect the product next week,” Gharibadadi wrote.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. However, the nuclear deal prevented him from having enough uranium supplies to pursue a nuclear weapon.
An annual US intelligence report released on Tuesday confirmed the US assessment that “Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons development activities that we believe would be necessary to manufacture a nuclear device.”
The talks in Vienna are aimed at reviving America’s role in the agreement, which abandoned former President Donald Trump, and lifting the sanctions he has imposed. Rouhani in his comments on Wednesday insisted that Iran still wants to seek a negotiated settlement in Vienna over its program.
“The US needs to return to the same conditions as in 2015 when we signed the nuclear deal,” Rouhani said.
Iran had earlier said it could use up to 60% of processed uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic currently has no such ships in its fleet. The IAEA has confirmed that Iran has informed it of its plans to enrich up to 60%.
Iran has enriched to 20% – and even that was a short technical step to the 90% level of arms.
The weekend attack on Natanz was initially described only as an eclipse in the electrical network that carries above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls, but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the hard line of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred to several thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed in a state TV interview. However, no other official offered it and no images of the aftermath were released.
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Associated Press author Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.