Pushing back against US sanctions and European inaction on trade, Iran is stepping up its uranium enrichment. How far will Tehran go to apply pressure on the West, and how will the Europeans respond?
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or Iran Deal) set a uranium enrichment cap of 3.67 percent. Tehran sailed past the cap on Monday, with a spokesman for the country’s nuclear agency announcing it had reached 4.5 percent, and would consider upping enrichment to 20 percent. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors confirmed the news later on Monday.
In addition, the Islamic Republic broke its 300kg low-enriched uranium stockpile limit less than a week ago.
While easily reversed, Iran maintains that these steps are “remedial,” and permitted by the 2015 agreement. Tehran wants the European parties to the deal to honor their trade commitments with Iran and deal in Iranian oil – a violation of American sanctions.
An enrichment level of 4.5 percent “completely satisfies the power plant fuel requirements of the country,” nuclear agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday. Previously, Iran’s only nuclear power plant at Bushehr was running on imported Russian fuel, enriched to a level of five percent.
A 20 percent enrichment level is still a considerable step below the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear weapon, but progression to weapons-grade uranium is not linear, Middle East expert Paul Heroux told RT. Once 20 percent is reached, he said, “you’re already mostly there.”
Will Iran go all the way?
“It’s probable,” Heroux said. Given the recent military tensions between Iran and the US, coupled with the Trump administration’s relentless application of sanctions, Iran need only look east to see the benefits of acquiring the bomb.
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