concern about nuclear activities in Fordow
Mogherini expresses concern about nuclear activities in Fordow
According To Iran News, Iran’s resume of uranium enrichment on Fordow is a major concern for us, European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a press conference on Monday.
“We always rely on the IAEA for verification,” she said, “IAEA inspectors were on the site in the recent days.”
“We expected their report later to today so would see our relation toward that later today,” she added.
“Full commitment [to JCPOA] remain crucial for our security eve if it is increasingly difficult to preserve it,” she stressed, “we will continue our effort to have a full implementation of the agreement.”
European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact after the Islamic Republic began enrichment work at its Fordow site.
At talks in Brussels, the EU powers that signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — Britain, France and Germany — were expected to signal what action should be taken as the bloc awaits a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency later Monday on whether Iran is still complying with its commitments.
The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground lab.
Salehi told AP journalists in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily (12 pounds). That’s compared to what Tehran had been producing — about 450 grams (1 pound) of low-enriched uranium per day.
Salehi said that’s due in part to restarting enrichment at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.
“I believe (that) in total, 5.5 kilograms is the daily volume of uranium enrichment in Natanz and Fordo,” Salehi told the AP, mentioning Iran’s other nuclear facility at Natanz.
The AEOI announced on November 6 that it had officially started injecting gas into 1,044 centrifuges at the underground Fordow nuclear plant in the fourth step of reducing commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal. The 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allowed the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Fordow to spin without uranium gas.
Noting that the European and American politicians have reacted to Tehran’s latest move and are concerned, the AEOI head said Iran’s potentials have become active now.
Iran began reducing commitments to the JCPOA a year after the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the agreement and lack of any practical measures from the the European sides to safeguard Iran’s economic interests in the face of US sanctions.
The country stresses that all suspended measures will be resumed as soon as other parties to the agreement start to live up to their own commitments.
Salehi announced on Sunday, during the ceremony to start laying the concrete foundations of the second unit of Bushehr nuclear power plant, that Iran will produce up to 3,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity by 2027, which will avert emission of 21 million tons of pollutant gases.
