IAEA: Iran again violates nuclear deal by producing uranium metals

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Iranian centrifuges for uranium enrichment

Photo: HO / AFP

Iran has violated the international requirements for its own nuclear program once again.

As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced, a laboratory produced a few grams of metal from uranium on February 6th.

Iran justified the move with the aim of producing fuel for the research reactor in Tehran.

With the renewed violation of the agreement to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, Iran's return to the agreement seems increasingly unlikely.

The United States had terminated the agreement under Donald Trump, but Joe Biden's administration had indicated that the agreement could still be saved.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani was disappointed on Thursday by the policies of his new counterpart Joe Biden and called for the USA to change course.

"We haven't seen any goodwill on the part of the new government yet," Rouhani said on state television.

Biden should immediately end the policy of maximum pressure of his predecessor Donald Trump and, above all, the "criminal" sanctions against Iran.

Rouhani had already indicated several times that he wanted a solution to the nuclear dispute and no further escalation.

Also because he wants to prevent the economy from collapsing.

Nevertheless, the leadership in Tehran has now set a deadline for the USA: If the Americans do not decide by the end of February and lift the sanctions, the leadership wants to take a different path.

The pressure on the Iranian leadership is increasing

Then, for example, the inspections of the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be severely restricted.

Iran has already massively violated the 2015 nuclear deal since the US left the country in May 2018.

The US is demanding that Iran first have to abide by the agreement before they can talk about lifting the sanctions.

Meanwhile, the pressure in Iran appears to be increasing.

For example, the head of the secret service, Mahmud Alawi, recently caused a stir when he indirectly brought up the topic of atomic bomb construction in a television interview, if the crippling US sanctions were not lifted immediately.

According to a decree by the highest Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, the construction and use of nuclear weapons are considered un-Islamic and are therefore fundamentally prohibited.

"If you push a cat into a corner, it could react differently than a cat that is not pushed"

Iran's chief of intelligence, Mahmud Alawi

"But if you push a cat into a corner, it could react differently than a cat that is not pushed," said the chief of intelligence.

It is the same with Iran if the country is wrongly pressured.

The Iranian media criticized Allawi for these remarks because he was not authorized to do so as the head of the secret service.

The presidential office assured through a press spokesman that nothing had changed in the decree of Supreme Leader Khamenei.

But the US should also ensure that it stays that way, said the spokesman on Twitter.

Trump left the international nuclear treaty in May 2018.

With tough sanctions and a policy of maximum pressure, he wanted to persuade the leadership in Tehran to negotiate an agreement with stronger and longer-term conditions.

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