Zarif: We have exceeded the stockpile of 300 kilograms of enriched uranium
Iran says it has begun reducing its commitments under the nuclear deal, part of a move to pressure Europe to curb US sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has not yet confirmed Iran's claim.
On Monday, July 1, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed the news about the country's increase in enriched uranium, saying: "According to what I have learned, Iran has exceeded the 300-kilogram mark according to its plan, and we had announced this before. Based on what was announced, we have stated very clearly what we are doing and we will act accordingly; we consider this to be one of our rights within the JCPOA."
Iran does not see this move as a withdrawal from the JCPOA, and merely presents it as a lever to pressure the European parties to implement their promises, which have included activating INSTEX to overcome US sanctions. The Islamic Republic has threatened that if this pressure does not work, it will gradually reduce its commitments to the JCPOA and eventually withdraw from it.
Simultaneously with Zarif's statements, the Reuters news agency, in a report citing its sources, reported that "Iran has exceeded the 300-kilogram limit set for its uranium stockpile."
The announcement that Iran has broken the limit of storing 300 kilograms of enriched uranium comes at a time when Iran was expected to be relatively satisfied with the outcome of Friday's meeting of the Joint Commission on making INSTEX more active and not to carry out its threats to reduce its commitments under the JCPOA.
Nearly two months ago, on the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the intensification of sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic gave Europe a two-month opportunity to take action to activate INSTEX to help Iran overcome sanctions, otherwise Iran would back down from some of its commitments under the JCPOA, including respecting the 300-kilogram limit on the storage of enriched uranium and 130 tons of heavy water.
Iran said after Friday's joint commission meeting in Vienna that the outcome of the talks was a step forward, but insufficient. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, who attended the JCPOA commission meeting, linked Iran's decision on whether or not to carry out its threats to the outcome of the Vienna meeting in Tehran.
The news that Iran has exceeded the limit allowed in the JCPOA for storing enriched uranium has not yet been confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said today (Monday) in response to the news that Iran has exceeded the 300-kilogram limit of 3.67 percent enriched uranium, that they are investigating the authenticity of the news.
