Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdulkhian confirmed that hundreds of new centrifuges were activated "in response" to the American sanctions imposed last night (Monday) on the regime. "I would like to point out that in response to this American action, Iran began injecting gas into hundreds of new-generation centrifuges according to a decision that was made before," Abdulkhian clarified at a human rights ceremony held in Tehran.
The Iranian official defined the course of the new sanctions as "the madness of the ineffective sanctions of Joe Biden, Blinken and Rob Malley", referring to the director of the nuclear talks on behalf of the White House.
As a reminder, American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced last night that his country has added six more Iranian companies to the administration's blacklist, due to their activities in the alleged illegal trade of "oil and petrochemical products".
Six Iranian companies were added to the list.
In Lincoln, photo: AFP
Even earlier, a spokesman for the Islamic Republic's nuclear agency stated that "hundreds of new and advanced centrifuges including IR1 and IR6 have been ordered to go into operation" and that the International Atomic Energy Agency had been informed about this.
The discussions reached an impasse
During his remarks, Abdulkhian also referred to the state of the nuclear talks taking place in Vienna.
Now the discussions have reached an impasse, this against the background of the Iranian demand for the removal of all sanctions, and also because of the American refusal to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations.
"This week, the European Union's foreign policy coordinator, Joseph Borrell, presented an initiative and a text on the subject to Iran, the P5 countries and the US.
We examine this text clearly and agree to meet around the negotiating table," the Iranian official clarified.
Response to sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abdulkhian, photo: AFP
However, despite the willingness to hold another round of talks, no official date has yet been given.
As mentioned, the talks towards a new nuclear agreement were held for eight rounds in the Austrian capital but ended without results after 11 months of discussions.
The Iranian team was headed by the deputy foreign minister, Ali Bakri Khani, and on the other side are the other countries that signed the original nuclear agreement: China, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and France, with the US participating in the negotiations "indirectly".
The entire process is overseen by Enrique Mora, the European Union's foreign policy commissioner.
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