European Union: Iran Must Remain Committed to Nuclear Deal

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announced the launch of a chain of 30 advanced IR6 centrifuges. The European Union, in response to this action by the Islamic Republic, called on Iran to remain committed to its obligations under the nuclear deal.

Maya Kochianczyk, spokeswoman for Federico Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy coordinator, responded to Iran’s new step of launching additional centrifuges by calling on the Islamic Republic to reverse its decision and remain faithful to its commitments under the nuclear deal.

She emphasized: Iran remained committed to this agreement for 14 full months following America’s withdrawal from the deal, and the European Union will maintain its commitment as long as the Islamic Republic remains faithful to its obligations regarding nuclear activities.

Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres also encouraged Iran to commit to the obligations related to the nuclear agreement. He added that uranium enrichment beyond the level specified in the nuclear deal would not provide any economic benefit to Iran.

Amid Nouripour, foreign policy official in Germany’s Green Party, called on the European Union in an interview with German media “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) to use all its strength every minute to convince the Iranian side to remain in the nuclear deal.

Israel’s Concerns

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, head of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, defended the nuclear agreement with Iran during her visit to Israel.

On Monday, November 4, 2019, during a conference on security issues in Israel, she said that so far there is still no better mechanism than the nuclear deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

According to the head of Germany’s Christian Democratic party, as long as the situation remains as it is, this agreement should not be carelessly abandoned. However, she emphasized: “Israel is concerned about the expansion of Iran’s aggressive influence in the region, which is unacceptable, and I share this concern”.

On the other hand, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addressed the subject of the nuclear deal at the annual conference of international Christian media and emphasized: “The most important objective is to ensure that Iran does not acquire atomic weapons.”

He added that Israel has prevented Iran from creating an empire and occupying other countries.

The Israeli Prime Minister also praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies based on maximum economic pressure on Iran and considered them effective.

He said: “Maximum economic pressure on Iran is the right policy, and I am pleased that recently this policy has been intensified with additional sanctions.”

Iran’s New Action

Ali Akbar Salehi, Vice President and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced that the Islamic Republic has launched a chain of 30 advanced sixth-generation centrifuges called IR6 at Natanz.

On Monday, November 4, 2019, during his visit to Natanz nuclear facilities, he said: “We had not stopped, and if we had, we would not have been able to add more than 2,660 SWU to the capacity we now have, which is 6,000 SWU, in just 2 months. That is to say, our SWU has now reached 8,660 SWU, and our uranium production, which before the third step of reducing JCPOA commitments was around 450 grams per day, has now reached more than 5,000 grams.”

SWU is a unit by which the volume of annual enriched uranium production at a certain percentage of purity is measured.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in its report from last September stated that Iran, through uranium enrichment using advanced centrifuges and programs it has for installing other advanced devices of this type, has once again violated the atomic agreement with major world powers.

The Islamic Republic has given the remaining members of the nuclear deal, particularly European countries, until November 4 to fulfill their “banking and oil commitments” to Tehran and take “practical steps” to facilitate banking transactions and the sale of Iranian oil.

Iranian officials have threatened that otherwise, the Islamic Republic will take its fourth step in reducing nuclear commitments on November 5, the day after tomorrow.

Source: DW