“According to Iran, fluctuations of the enrichment levels… were experienced,” the IAEA said on Tuesday in a confidential report to its member states, seen by Reuters.

“The agency’s analysis of the ES (environmental samples) taken on 22 April 2021 shows an enrichment level of up to 63% U-235, which is consistent with the fluctuations of the enrichment levels (described by Iran),” it added.

On April 13, Iran said it had informed the IAEA of a plan to start the 60-percent enrichment, under which 1,000 advanced centrifuge machines will be installed at Natanz nuclear site.

The decision followed a suspected Israeli act of sabotage at the facility, which is among the sites being monitored by the UN atomic watchdog under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Additionally, the IAEA’s report said Iran was feeding the tails from the IR-4 cascade into a cascade of 27 IR-5 and 30 IR-6s centrifuges to refine uranium to up to 5 percent.

The report was published at a time when envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries — Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — have been holding talks in Vienna on a potential revival of the JCPOA.

A US delegation is also in the Austrian capital, but it is not attending the discussions because the United States is not a party to the nuclear accord.

Former US president Donald Trump abandoned the deal and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the JCPOA had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign.

Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights stipulated in Article 26 of the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories.

Now, the new US administration says it wants to compensate for Trump’s mistake and rejoin the deal, but it is showing an overriding propensity for maintaining some of the sanctions as a tool of pressure.

Tehran insists that all sanctions should first be removed in a verifiable manner before the Islamic Republic reverses its remedial measures.

Vienna talks making progress: Russia

On Wednesday, Russia’s representative to the international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said the Vienna talks “make progress.”

In another tweet hours earlier, the Russian envoy reported a meeting between the representatives from the P4+1 group of countries and the US.

“In between official meetings of the Joint Commission of the #JCPOA the participants in the Vienna talks hold on a daily basis informal meetings in various formats. For instance this evening the JCPOA participants (without #Iran) met with the US delegation,” he wrote.

Also on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had met with Massimo Aparo, Deputy Director General and Head of the IAEA Department of Safeguards.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues related to the IAEA’s safeguards systems and the use of guarantees in Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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“Scientists installed the centrifuges on time and implemented this part of the law through intensified efforts and redoubled efforts to complete the work even during the Nowruz holiday,” Zonnour said.

He added, “According to this [parliamnet] law, one thousand IR2M centrifuges had to be installed by the end of the year 1399,” noting that “the Iranian nuclear scientists succeeded in completing the project of installing one thousand IR2M centrifuges.” He called the achievement “a very important and strategic step.”

According to the senior MP, “There were 19,000 installed and un-installed centrifuges in Natanz, which were reduced to 5,100 centrifuges in accordance with the JCPOA obligations.”

He said that “the SWU (Seperative Work Units) related to these IR1 centrifuges is between 800 grams to one kilogram per year, that is, if a thousand IR2M centrifuges operate in Natanz [nuclear site], at the end of the year [of 1400], each centrifuge can enrich 800 grams or 1,200 grams of uranium.”

“If each centrifuge enriches an average of one kg uranium, at the end of the year, 1,000 IR1 centrifuges will produce 1,000 kilograms of enriched uranium,” according to Zonnour.

He added that “The IR2Ms that are installed, first of all, their technology is completely Iranian and we have no dependence on foreign countries in this field, and SWU of these IR2M centrifuges are between 5 and 6. This means that IR2M centrifuges have more than 5 times the capacity of our IR1s operating in Natanz. In other words, this one thousand IR2M machines that have been installed can enrich uranium as much as the entire Natanz site, which operates according to the JCPOA.”

He said, “These one thousand centrifuges have been designed and installed in 6 cascades, to 4 centrifuges of which uranium hexafluoride gas have been injected, and industrial enrichment has begun.”

The head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament also said that another cascade is about to be launched, centrifuges of which have been installed and gas is about to be injected into,”

He also added “Another cascade out of 6 IR2M centrifuge cascades is in a vacuum. In the next two days, its work will be completed and it will join the cascades that have started enrichment.”

The senior lawmaker added, “This measure will increase the uranium enrichment capacity in the country.”

Zonnour also declared “the IR4 cascade will be operated soon and is about to be launched, which is an important step. The capacity of this cascade is similar to that of IR2Ms and it has a production capacity of 5 to 6 SWUs.”

He said: “Scientists have also installed the IR6 centrifuges. This important change is more important than the previous two measures because the capacity of IR6 is about 10 SWUs and it has 10 times the enrichment capacity of existing IR1 centrifuges.”

The chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the parliament emphasized, “These measures were legal obligations [in according to the parliament’s bill].”

He further stressed that “It is planned to install IR6 centrifuges according to the schedule, the first cascade of which has been installed and this is the most important step in the development of the nuclear industry.”

He concluded “Iran has taken three important steps to reduce its JCPOA obligations”, warning that time is running out for the US and Europeans.

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“After the JCPOA, Iran enriched 24 tons of uranium, not 300kg,” MP Gholamali Jafarzadeh quoted Salehi as saying in the session.

Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), entitled Iran with the right to enrich uranium at a certain level. After US withdrawal from the deal in May 2018, Trump administration imposed several sanctions against Iran, one of which targeted enriched uranium sales of the country.

Since the implementation of this unilateral measure, Iran has stocked all its enriched uranium and in early July, IAEA confirmed that Iran’s stockpile of uranium has exceeded the 300kg limit agreed in the deal. Iran is reducing commitments to the nuclear deal in a step-by-step and transparent manner to create a balance since other parties have so far failed to adhere to their commitments. Tehran says all its measures are reversible as soon as other parties can safeguard its economic interests from damages US unilateral sanctions.

According to the lawmaker, Salehi added that the main cause of differences between Iran and Western countries lies in political and ideological issues and that the nuclear energy issue is just an excuse. “Even if Iran eliminates the nuclear issue, West’s problems with Iran will not be solved because they have political and ideological disputes with Iran,” he quoted Salehi as saying.

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In the second stage, Iran said it would increase the purity of its enriched uranium, no longer sticking to the 3.67% limit it had agreed to in the deal.

Rabiei went on to add, “the Leader’s fatwa on a decisive ban on all shapes and forms of weapons of mass destruction at all stages (possession, storage and proliferation) serves as our guideline. Iran, based on this fatwa, is at the front line of making efforts for a Middle East and a world free from nuclear weapons.”

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The Russian representative further described Iran’s move as “a result of US decision to sanction removal of LEU from Iran.”

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Gharibabadi said that Iran has been very clear during the process, expressing his deep regret over the US withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions even on countries which have wanted to abide by their regulations under the UNSC Resolution 2231.

The Iranian envoy further expressed hope that the international community will unite against this bullying behavior and keep the hopes alive for diplomacy and multilateralism.

He also called on Europe to take serious steps to preserve the JCPOA, stressing that Iran will reconsider its actions in reducing JCPOA commitments if the European countries live up to their commitments in relation to financial matters and oil purchases from Iran.

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“Under the present conditions, it is our right to make a reaction regarding the measures of the uncommitted US to JCPOA. There is no reason for us to halt nuclear enrichment while Trump tries to persuade other countries to stop purchasing heavy water from us,” he added.

“In addition to NPT, making atomic bombs is the red-line that Iran will not pass, except that we will do whatever we are legally allowed to do if the sanctions remain in place,” he underlined.

“Europeans want us to make our commitments but when they do not do so, they cannot expect us to act as they wish,” Boroujerdi said.

As reported, Tehran is not after withdrawing from JCPOA but will continue reciprocal policies in response to lack of other parties’ commitments in the framework of the deal.

JCPOA is a comprehensive document which notes that if a country doesn’t fulfill its commitments, others can adopt countermeasures, Chairman of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iranian Parliament Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told Mehr News Agency on Wednesday.

In a Wednesday tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote that on May 8, 2018, US withdrew from JCPOA, violated UN Security Council 2231 and pressured others, including European partners, to do the same.

“After a year of patience, Iran stops measures that US has made impossible to continue,” he added.

“Our action is within the terms of JCPOA,” highlighted Zarif, noting “EU/E3+2 has a narrowing window to reverse this.”

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