Iran Restarts Uranium Enrichment at Fordow Site

[Aramagedon]

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran has begun enriching uranium at the Fordow facility by feeding the centrifuge machines there with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) in the fourth step of reducing its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said in a statement that the operation started at 00:00 local time (20:30 GMT) on Thursday, November 7, after the transfer of a 2,800-kilogram cylinder containing 2,000 kilograms of UF6 from Natanz nuclear facility to Fordow - near the city of Qom, where 1,044 centrifuges are installed.

The AEOI’s spokesman said the injection of uranium hexafluoride was being monitored by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, now around 500 kilograms, would increase by some 6 kilograms per day with the resumption of enrichment at Fordow.

President Hassan Rouhani announced on Tuesday that in reaction to the continued failure of the European parties to meet their obligations to the nuclear deal, Tehran on Wednesday would take the 4th step in reducing its commitments under the JCPOA.

In remarks last month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Iran will continue to reduce the JCPOA commitments until it gets the desirable results.

“Reduction of the nuclear commitments, which is a responsibility of the Atomic Energy Organization (of Iran), must continue with full seriousness and in a precise and comprehensive manner, as announced by the administration, until it achieves the appropriate result, and it will definitely yield results,” the Leader said.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal (France, Britain, and Germany) have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

https://tn.ai/2135373

 

[yavar]

Iran Undertakes 4th Step in Scaling Down JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) Commitment: start of Uranium enrichment with 1,044 centrifuges at Fordow
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/11/06/610563/AEOI-fordow-nuclear-facility-uranium-enrichment

 

[Kiarash]

For 6 years we drove down a dead end so some could "make friends with the world" !

 

[QWECXZ]

For 6 years we drove down a dead end so some could "make friends with the world" !

Exactly. At the rate of 6 kilograms per day, it will take another 6 years to enrich 13,000 kilograms of uranium like before the JCPOA. That means that the US and the Europeans successfully delayed our nuclear program for 10 years (from 2015 to 2025) without any significant concessions. I can't believe that there are still stupid people who support the JCPOA or diplomatic negotiations with them.

 

[raptor22]

Exactly. At the rate of 6 kilograms per day, it will take another 6 years to enrich 13,000 kilograms of uranium like before the JCPOA. That means that the US and the Europeans successfully delayed our nuclear program for 10 years (from 2015 to 2025) without any significant concessions. I can't believe that there are still stupid people who support the JCPOA or diplomatic negotiations with them.

To work on our centrifuges & develop better ones we needed this time otherwise you should have installed 50000 IR1 in Natanz and for more capacity build more facilities .. centrifuges need time to be developed and tested now you can installed 2000 IR6/IR8 and get the same result.... while newer one are more reliable and more sufficient without sanctions.
On the other hand we are the only country which its nuclear program is recognized by UNSCR and international law .. moreover you wanted to enrich uranium for what reason? when you didn't have a reactor to use it as fuel?
Furthermore we broke the bad image around our nuclear program as trouble maker now everyone knows who is lying and who is trouble maker and blame Trump and americans.
We've worked on our military so far , done many thing in the region and now we have upper hand ....
But I agree that Rouhani was too much into diplomacy and put all eggs in one basket ... JCPoA lacked some elements like what would be other side punishment in case of violation of the deal ..
Indeed diplomacy is always appreciated if and only if you back it with strong army ...

 

[QWECXZ]

To work on our centrifuges & develop better ones we needed this time otherwise you should have installed 50000 IR1 in Natanz and for more capacity build more facilities .. centrifuges need time to be developed and tested now you can installed 2000 IR6/IR8 and get the same result.... while newer one are more reliable and more sufficient without sanctions.
On the other hand we are the only country which its nuclear program is recognized by UNSCR and international law .. moreover you wanted to enrich uranium for what reason? when you didn't have a reactor to use it as fuel?
Furthermore we broke the bad image around our nuclear program as trouble maker now everyone knows who is lying and who is trouble maker and blame Trump and americans.
We've worked on our military so far , done many thing in the region and now we have upper hand ....
But I agree that Rouhani was too much into diplomacy and put all eggs in one basket ... JCPoA lacked some elements like what would be other side punishment in case of violation of the deal ..
Indeed diplomacy is always appreciated if and only if you back it with strong army ...

I respectfully disagree. We could've continued uranium enrichment while developing new centrifuges simultaneously. You can do both at the same time. We had 19,000 IR-1 centrifuges and a thousand of IR-2 and IR-2M centrifuges. Only 10,000 centrifuges were operating in Natanz and Fordow. The rest were reserved to replace broken centrifuges. We could've tested IR-6 and IR-8 way earlier and had we done it, we would've been closer to mass producing them now. We could've installed IR-2M and mass-produced IR-4 to increase our enrichment capacity.

Unfortunately, you are repeating the propaganda by the Rouhani administration to justify the treasonous deal called the JCPOA. We didn't need the UN Security Council to recognize our nuclear program. Uranium enrichment has been recognized as a right for all signatories of the NPT. This is a right that has been given to all signatories of the NPT and Iran was/is no exception. On the other hand, in the JCPOA, Iran has renounced its right to plutonium reprocessing. Also, the Bushehr nuclear plant had already been connected to the grid by 2011. So, we did have working nuclear reactors. Namely the Bushehr nuclear reactor and the Tehran Research Reactor.

Diplomacy does not work when it is pursued under pressure. Diplomacy is not possible while the enemy thinks the carrot and stick tactic works. And I agree with you that a strong army is a must for diplomacy to work, but it's not enough. Specially when you can't outbalance your enemies' military and economic power.

 

[OldTwilight]

Now , reformers can give it away for Nth times

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

If the US dangles the JCPOA carrot again, will the Iranians be ever ready to surrender their nuclear program omce again, or is it too late now and the world should expect Iran to become a nuclear power by 2030?

 

[Battle of Waterloo]

To work on our centrifuges & develop better ones we needed this time otherwise you should have installed 50000 IR1 in Natanz and for more capacity build more facilities .. centrifuges need time to be developed and tested now you can installed 2000 IR6/IR8 and get the same result.... while newer one are more reliable and more sufficient without sanctions.

Agreed

On the other hand we are the only country which its nuclear program is recognized by UNSCR and international law ..

Not agreed. We are the only country where that was recognised because the other countries don't need to make special compromises to secure recognition of their basic rights...! So that is actually not a good thing.

Also this 'recognition' is very insecure and weak, it is tied entirely to the JCPOA and as soon as France decides it has had enough with Iran then UNSCR 2231/JCPOA will be dead and all UNSC sanctions can be reinstated - there goes Iran's 'recognised' right to nuclear energy!

Under Article IV of the NPT all countries have the inalienable right to nuclear energy - so no need to make stupid compromises to win a temporary 'recognition'!

Although some anti-Iran lobbyists argue this doesn't include domestic production of all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle (e.g. plutonium reprocessing is less obviously part of this clause than uranium enrichment to 3%), but this is only to be anti-Iran and any country that takes that interpretation also doesn't give a shit about the NPT for their own nuclear programs.

Furthermore we broke the bad image around our nuclear program as trouble maker now everyone knows who is lying and who is trouble maker and blame Trump and americans.

Partially true, but Europeans are fickle creatures. For many months they were trying to convince Iran to make additional compromises on sunset clauses and missiles, and now with every response Iran takes (which are very measured and slow anyway!) they are moving closer and closer to the US position.

So if this continues for even 6-12 more months we can see that Iran made all those sacrifices to get a 'good image' but in the end the EU and US all blame Iran again anyway even though the US violated the deal and EU did nothing to save it and for so long only Iran was committed to saving it!

So in the end this temporary 'blame game victory' will disappear.

We've worked on our military so far , done many thing in the region and now we have upper hand ....

This one is difficult to talk about, but clearly under Ahmadinejad there was far more progress in the field of ballistic missiles and space just to name two big areas... And believe me, I am not fan of Ahmadinejad.

But I agree that Iran didn't have many options and this was a problem dating back many decades to Khatami and mistakes were made in the past by Iran (Iran told some lies to the Europeans which were exposed and made them angry with Iran, and then the US was looking for any excuse for sanctions against Iran and that was just the perfect excuse!). The biggest mistake, in hindsight, is the asymmetric nature of the 'snapback' mechanism and how Zarif did not foresee the possibility for the US to unilaterally reimpose all sanctions and for the EU to stand aside and do nothing. But hindsight is 20/20...!

In my opinion the only long-term victory of the JCPOA was that Russia and China are now more aligned with Iran on the nuclear issue. In the past decades (early 2000s) everyone was opposed to Iran developing nuclear technology, even Russia very strongly opposed it and voted FOR UNSC sanctions against Iran, but today it is quite unthinkable that those countries would vote for UNSC sanctions against Iran. But this victory possibly would have arrived anyway with US-China tensions and Russia's closer strategic ties with Iran, and it is of not so much value at the moment because still China and Russia don't stand up to the US on Iran that much (e.g. Pars gas field, trade in general, etc).

 

[kingQamaR]

If the US dangles the JCPOA carrot again, will the Iranians be ever ready to surrender their nuclear program omce again, or is it too late now and the world should expect Iran to become a nuclear power by 2030?

they had no choice then or now. No one complies like this unless your under very severe threats or duress. That’s what western combined pressure did to Iranians, Getting your bomb is no joke time is always your biggest enemy against you. Iran is in now in a rot no forward or backward. That’s the way the west operates.

 

[Hack-Hook]

Now , reformers can give it away for Nth times

you mean ex-principal, moderates.

 

[OldTwilight]

you mean ex-principal, moderates.

Sorry , I forget that the so called reformers want to give Iran as whole not just nuclear and missile techs ...

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

Thanks to Iran, Pak's importance is now ready to take a quantum jump to many a energy state above her current level!!! And, IK is great at "quantifying" it at a "reasonable" rate!!! Everything makes sense when expressed in cents and pence....

Iranians, Indians and Israilis aren't the only clever folks in this neighborhood...

IMO Pak presence with 500K troops is required in the GCC/KSA regions if the folks want to avoid a "two weeks" notice....

As per the Last Shah, he was undone with a "two weeks" notice served via Islamist+Communist* combo ops....

*The Imperialist intelligence agencies keep priests to prostitutes in their payrolls for a reason

 

[Aramagedon]

Fordow enrichment capacity reaching pre-JCPOA levels, to increase gradually: Iran

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), speaks at Fordow enrichment facility near the central city of Qom on November 9, 2019. (Photo by Fars News)


The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has confirmed that the Fordow facility is now enriching uranium at almost the same levels before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The rate will increase "gradually" as part of the country's new step away from the 2015 nuclear deal in response to violations by the United States, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference in Fordow, Kamalvandi said the enrichment capacity after Iran started injecting gas into 1,044 centrifuges in Ferdow has risen to some 9,500 separative work units (SWUs), which is 87 percent to 90 percent of the pre-JCPOA levels.

"Gradually, the enrichment capacity will increase at Fordow in the coming days," he said. "With the beginning of gas injection into the centrifuges at Fordow, the [enrichment] capacity of 8,600 SWUs will go all the way up to 9,500 SWUs and we won't be far off compared to before the JCPOA."

As part of the fourth rollback of its commitments under the nuclear deal in reciprocation for Washington’s pullout and Europe’s failure to meet its end of the bargain, Iran began injecting gas into its Fordow centrifuges earlier this week.

The step involves injecting UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) gas into centrifuges under the supervision of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Under the the JCPOA, the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges at Fordow are only allowed to spin without uranium gas.


PressTV-Iran starts injecting gas into centrifuges at Fordow plant
Iran says it has officially started injecting gas into hundreds of centrifuges at Fordow nuclear facility in fourth step away from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Asked whether the new step is the last technical one in Iran's suspension of its commitments, Kamalvandi said: "This is not the last step and other steps can also come into play."

"We have taken four steps and it's about time the other side comes into its senses. Of course there are other steps," he said, cautioning the remaining signatories of the deal -- the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany -- that the next steps won't be limited to technical matters.

Kamalvandi said Iran initially did not want to scale back its JCPOA obligations but decided to do so after the US decision to abandon the agreement disrupted the balance between commitments and tasks.

The Islamic Republic says the suspension of its commitments is not a violation of the JCPOA, adding it is based on Articles 26 and 36 of the agreement itself, which detail mechanisms to deal with non-compliance.

The fate of the Iran deal has been in doubt since May 2018, when the US abruptly abandoned the deal and reinstated all the anti-Iran sanctions that it had lifted as part of the JCPOA.

Tehran says the European signatories — Britain, Germany and France — have so far failed to uphold their commitments.They have expressed vocal support for the deal, but failed to provide meaningful economic incentives as required under the nuclear agreement.