Iran has started the process of producing uranium with 20% enrichment at Fordow facility, said government spokesman Ali Rabiei told Mehr News Agency.
Ali Rabiei pointed to Iran’s plan to enrich uranium to up to 20% purity. He noted that the enrichment started this morning while the pre-requisite measures such as informing the International Atomic Energy Agency and submitting a questionnaire based on the country’s safeguard obligations have been taken.
The first UF6 product will be available within the next hours, the spokesman said.
According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, the level of Iran’s uranium enrichment was to remain at 3.67 percent, and Iran would retain no more than 6,104 of the almost 20,000 centrifuges it possesses.
There are two uranium enrichment facilities in Iran – in Natanz and Fordow. Under the deal, which was agreed on July 14, 2015, the Natanz facility was limited to installing no more than 5,060 of the oldest and least efficient centrifuges for 10 years.
At Fordow, no enrichment was allowed for 15 years and the underground facility was to be converted into a nuclear, physics and technology center.
Iran has suspended a number of commitments since the US abandoned the nuclear deal and reinstated sanctions.
The Iranian parliament approved a bill in December aimed at lifting of sanctions after, as it says, “the failure of JCPOA’s European parties to fulfill commitments and in wake of the assassination of an Iranian scientist.”
Based on the motion, if the European parties to the JCPOA start observing their obligations within three months following approval of this law, the Iranian administration should submit a proposal to the parliament on Iran’s reciprocal measures for restoring full implementation of its JCPOA obligations, Mehr reports.
