Israel on Thursday called on world powers to halt nuclear talks with Iran immediately, citing a UN watchdog's report that Tehran has started enriching uranium with more advanced centrifuges.
"Iran is carrying out nuclear blackmail as a negotiating tactic, and this should be answered by the immediate halt to negotiations and the implementation of tough steps by the world powers," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office quoted him as saying in a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced Wednesday that Iran has started enrichment up to 20 percent at Ferdow with one cascade, or cluster, of 166 advanced IR-6 machines. The agency said Iran had also installed but was not yet operating another 94 IR-6 machines in a cascade at Fordow.
Tehran has accelerated higher degree of uranium enrichment this year, after its parliament passed a law in December 2020 demanding US lift economic sanctions. Uranium is being enriched to 20 and 60 percent purity and Iran has accumulated more than 200 kg of fissile material that could enable it to produce a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks.
With reporting by Reuters
In its latest breach of limits set by its 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has begun producing enriched uranium with advanced centrifuges at its underground Fordow plant.
The United Nations atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported the move Wednesday on the third day of talks in Vienna designed to revive the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).
European diplomats flagged up to journalists Monday Iran’s use of more advanced centrifuges, the devices used to enrich uranium. The JCPOA limited Tehran to 5060 IR-1 machines, with a limited number of more advanced ones used purely for research.
A November report from the IAEA noted Iranwas running IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at the Natanz site to enrich to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent JCPOA cap. The IAEA also reported that Iran was enriching uranium with IR-1 centrifuges while testing IR-6 machines at Ferdow, a fortified underground plant where enrichment is banned under the JCPOA.
But Wednesday’s IAEA statement said Iran had now started enrichment up to 20 percent at Ferdow with one cascade, or cluster, of 166 advanced IR-6 machines. The agency said Iran had also installed but was not yet operating another 94 IR-6 machines in a cascade at Fordow.
According to a note circulated to IAEA member states and seen by some news agencies, Iran has agreed with the agency increased frequency of agency inspectors’ verification activities at Ferdow and “practical arrangements to facilitate implementation of these activities.”
Iran has expanded its nuclear program since 2019 in response to United States ‘maximum pressure sanctions’ introduced when previous president Donald Trump left the JCPOA in 2018. By exceeded the JCPOA enrichment cap of 3.67 percent and using more efficient centrifuges that increase the speed of enrichment, Tehran has effectively reduced ‘break out,’ the time required to produce enough 90-percent-enriched ‘weapon grade’ uranium for a crude nuclear device.
The continuing expansion of the program, even if it gives Iran greater leverage in Vienna, increases the talks’ challenge of agreeing exactly how Tehran’s nuclear activities can be brought back within JCPOA limits. The talks – which resume this week after a five-month break – failed from April to June to agree not just on this, but also on which US sanctions are incompatible with the JCPOA.
Iran has also since February reduced the level of its co-operation with the IAEA to that required under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, justifying this in part as a response to a series of attacks on its nuclear sites widely attributed to Israel.
State media reported Wednesday that Iran was willing to continue nuclear talks in Vienna and would not abandon its aims to meet deadlines set by other parties.
The English-language Press TV quoted a senior Iranian negotiator that Tehran would not
“sacrifice its principled demands and the Iranian nation’s rights, for mere artificial deadlines or timetables.” The negotiator told Press TV that Iran was in Vienna "with full seriousness" and had presented “transparent demands and proposals."
Diplomats from France, German and the United Kingdom (known as the E3) told reporters Tuesday that Europe would not impose unproductive deadlines in their attempts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).
Iranian state media − including Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards − are suggesting European Union parties to the talks want to wrap up the current round of talks quickly. France and Germany are EU members and the talks are chaired by Enrique Mora, a senior EU official.
The official news agency (IRNA) arguedthat European parties, under United States pressure, had taken "certain political and media strategies" to hinder talks and direct them away from any agreement. Mehr news agency reported that the Europeans "need… item-by-item consultation with the United States."
The US, which left the JCPOA in 2018 and imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions on Iran, is taking part in Vienna only indirectly – with formal talks involving only remaining JCPOA signatories China, the E3, Iran, and Russia.
In a tweet Wednesday, Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman quoted a senior European diplomat that the end of this week was not a deadline. "We have brought big suitcases and we can stay through the weekend,” Norman wrote he was told. “This is the way it worked in the rounds so far that we worked until…the point where, mostly the Iranians, had to reconnect with their capitals.”
Talks to revive the JCPOA resumed Monday with Iran's negotiators insisting their aim was to see lifted all the sanctions levied since the US left the JCPOA in 2018. Two expert groups have been formed to discuss US sanctions, which have especially targeted Iran’s oil exports and financial sector.
On Wednesday envoys from JCPOA signatories attended a working group on nuclear issues.
Also Wednesday, Iran's lead negotiator and deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani met with Mora.
An unnamed Israeli official has said that the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist last year did not slow down Tehran’s atomic program and more needs to be done.
Israel’s Channel 12 television quoted the official Tuesday as having said that Iran is closest to a nuclear weapon than it has ever been so far and Israel needs to push for a stronger international agreement with Iran, at the same time preparing a military option.
The unnamed official maintained that “there is a huge global Israeli effort — both publicly and behind the scenes — to push for an upgraded agreement as well as simultaneously building a large and significant attack plan.”
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, known as one of the key figures in Iran’s nuclear program from its early days more than two decades ago, was shot dead in science fiction style in Tehran in November 2020. The sophisticated attack using an automated, remote controlled heavy gun mounted in a van, was largely attributed to Israel.
As the Biden Administration is pushing for reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran has made considerable advances in its nuclear program, unnerving Israel that believes the old agreement, the JCPOA, is already past its expiration date.
A seasoned Iranian politician and the former head of parliament's Foreign Relations and National Security Committee is pessimistic over nuclear talks in Vienna.
Heshmatollah Falahatpiasheh told Rouydad24 website in Tehran that "there is no bright prospect for the negotiations." The former lawmaker added, "This shuttle diplomacy will bear nothing other than speeches that would be forgotten soon and a high cost for the Iranian nation."
The conservative politician went on to say that politics in the Islamic Republic is not focused on the country’s economic development, which should be the key incentive for reaching a nuclear deal and lift US sanctions.
The remarks were made on the same day when the Iranian government’s spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi, who has joined the Raisi administration from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office, said in his first news conference in Tehran that Iran's new diplomacy is result-oriented and is based on pragmatism.
The spokesman said that "Iran's diplomacy is not passive and is not focused on one approach." He also claimed that "Other countries have received Iran's message and have realized the nature of Iran's diplomacy." This comes while in recent months Iran's president and foreign minister have been highlighting a shift toward the East in Iran's diplomacy, maintaining that Tehran attaches special significance to its ties with Moscow and Beijing.
Falahatpisheh, a moderate conservative politician, comes from the Islamic Republic's traditional conservative camp and has been writing commentaries on Iran's foreign policy in Resalat, that was once the flagship media outlet of the conservative camp. A decade ago, the paper lost influence when new conservatives such as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad emerged. The political dynamics since then has led to the emergence of hardliners, as distinct from traditional conservatives.
In his interview, Falahapisheh pointed out two problems about the 40-member, large negotiating team Iran has sent to Vienna. The first problem according to Falahatpisheh, is that the team is focused on issuing statements.
"Statements could have been issued in Tehran," said Falahatpisheh, adding that in this case "the team did not need to leave Iran for Vienna in the first place."
The second problem is that "The delegation sent to Vienna is against the 2015 nuclear deal also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). So, how can it revive an agreement it disagrees with?" asked Falahatpisheh.
Referring to the many tensions between Iran and the international community, Falahatpisheh insisted that Iran should start a détente parallel to the Vienna talks succeed. Otherwise, the benefits of an agreement will be limited for the country. However, he said that Iran's negotiating team lacks the experience and the potential to reduce the tensions.
He added: "I am not optimistic about the quick revival of the JCPOA although an interim agreement can always be forged." He explained that without limiting its nuclear program, Iran can immediately facilitate IAEA inspections in return for releasing part of Tehran's frozen assets abroad."
He likened the interim agreement to "some kind of cease-fire," that would build confidence on the part of the other side and allow Tehran to benefit from its released assets.
He also criticized Iran's opposition to the United States' direct involvement in the talks and said others might take advantage of the situation. Furthermore, he warned against the advantages Russia might gain in the process of the negotiations. Falahatpisheh pointed out that Russia is one of the countries that has benefitted most from sanctions on Iran's oil exports, as it has grabbed Iran's share of the oil market.
European diplomats in Vienna told reporters Tuesday that the Iran nuclear talks have started to discuss details in efforts to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
They also said that there will be a problem if Iran does not show it is serious in nuclear negotiations with world powers this week to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions or JCPOA.
Iran's lead negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said that any understandings reached in earlier talks between April and June were now back on the table. "What was discussed at the six previous rounds of talks in Vienna resulted in a draft and not an agreement,” the Iranian deputy foreign minister told reporters. “And a draft is subject to negotiations …. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
When the talks were suspended in June, pending Iran’s presidential election, diplomats suggested there had been progress, but that matters remained unresolved both over which United States sanctions violated the agreement, abandoned by previous president Donald Trump in 2018, and over how Iran’s nuclear program might be returned to the limits of the JCPOA from its expansion after 2019.
European diplomats Tuesday flagged up to journalists Iran’s use of more advanced centrifuges, the devices used to enrich uranium. The JCPOA limited Tehran to 5060 IR-1 machines, with a limited number of more advanced ones used for research, but a November report from the International Atomic Energy Agency noted Iran was using IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges to enrich to 60 percent, far above the 3.67 percent JCPOA cap.
The talks kicked off Monday, with the formal involvement of remaining JCPOA signatories – China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The US is taking part only indirectly, which has led to a cascade of attacks on the administration of President Joe Bidenfrom Republicans critical of the JCPOA.
Diplomats from France, Germany and the UK − dubbed the E3 − cautioned reporters against expecting any early breakthrough, suggesting Europe would not impose unproductive deadlines even if the need to revive the JCPOA was becoming more urgent. The senior EU official chairing formal talks, Enrique Mora, said Monday things had started well, although there had been growing European concern both over Tehran’s expanding nuclear program, which brings its closer to the capacity to make a weapon, and Iran’s restricted co-operation with the IAEA.
The Iranian media has been cautious over the talks, while the government of President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) has stressed its commitment to remove US sanctions rather than its willingness to compromise over the nuclear program. Bagheri Kani’s remarks over understandings reached in early talks being open to renegotiation may encourage expectation that talks will last longer but may also be designed to prepare government supporters, many of whom are JCPOA critics, for an eventual agreement.