The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s developments as they unfold.
PM urges world to reimpose sanctions if Iran enriches uranium beyond deal limits
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows Israel will not let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon, as Tehran says it will break the uranium stockpile limit set by the nuclear deal with world powers in the next 10 days.
“Today Iran threatened to enrich its uranium beyond the limits of the nuclear deal — this does not surprise us,” says Netanyahu. “In the event it acts upon its threats and violates the nuclear deal, the international community must immediately impose the sanctions that were set previously. Israel will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Under terms of the nuclear deal, Iran can keep a stockpile of no more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of low-enriched uranium. A spokesperson for the atomic agency said that given Iran’s recent decision to quadruple its production of low-enriched uranium, it would pass the 300-kilogram limit on Thursday, July 27.
Lebanon arrests Syrian IS suspect planning attacks on churches, Shiite sites
Lebanon says Monday it arrested a Syrian suspected of links to the Islamic State group who was plotting attacks on Christian and Shiite sites in the south of the country.
The Internal Security Forces (ISF) says they “tracked down and identified a man in southern Lebanon who actively publishes IS propaganda on social media networks and recruits new members” for the jihadist group.
The suspect, a 20-year-old Syrian national from the south Lebanon village of Yater, was in contact with people abroad who helped him set up social networking sites to disseminate IS propaganda, it says in a statement.
He also used the sites to discuss plans to carry out IS attacks on churches — inspired by the deadly Easter bombings in Sri Lanka — and Shiite religious centers, it adds.
According to the ISF, the suspect had shared an IS video published in April purporting to show the group’s supremo Abu Bakr al Baghdadi hailing the Sri Lanka bombings.
He also downloaded a manual compiled by followers of the jihadist group instructing readers on how to build explosives, the statement adds.
Iran will break the uranium stockpile limit set by its nuclear deal with world powers in the next 10 days, the spokesman for the country’s atomic agency said Monday, while also warning that Iran has the need for uranium enriched up to 20 percent, just a step away from weapons-grade levels.
The announcement indicated Iran’s determination to break from the 2015 accord, which has steadily unraveled since the Trump administration pulled America out of the deal last year and reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran, sending its economy into freefall.
The spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, made the announcement during a press conference with local journalists at Iran’s Arak heavy water facility that was carried live on Iranian state television.
“Today the countdown to pass the 300 kilograms reserve of enriched uranium has started and in 10 days time we will pass this limit,” he said, putting the date for the breach of a key provision of the agreement at June 27.
The development comes in the wake of suspected attacks on oil tankers last week in the region, attacks that the US, the UK and Saudi Arabia have blamed on Iran and which Iran has suggested were carried out by the US. It also follows four other oil tanker attacks off Fujairah in recent weeks. Iranian-allied rebels from Yemen have also struck US ally Saudi Arabia with drones and missiles.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Monday Iran would reach the allowed 300kg level of enriched uranium at levels mandated by the 2015 deal on June 27 and added: “We will go further from that ceiling, not only that, but we will also increase production drastically.” Boosting enrichment from 3.75 pc up to 5 pc for the use in the Bushehr power plant, or 20 percent for a research reactor in Tehran would bring the fuel closer to weapons grade. On May 8, a year after the US quit the 2015 accord, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia had 60 days to implement their promises to protect Iran’s oil and banking sectors from re-imposed US sanctions.
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