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Iran has fired advanced uranium centrifuges that were installed at its underground location at Natanz the day after it appeared. Donald Trump asked about options for an attack on the facility.
Tehran is pumping nuclear fuel into high-tech IR-2m machines at Natanz, in violation of an international agreement to only use first-generation IR-1 machines, a UN report revealed today.
Trump held an Oval Office meeting last week where he was prevented from launching strikes against Iran after a previous UN report showed massive spike in nuclear stocks in violation of the Obama-era pact that Trump had given up in 2018.
Defense sources told the New York Times that Trump had asked about options for a bombing – likely against Natanz, Iran’s main nuclear facility.
Last week’s report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed that an interconnected cluster of IR-2ms had been moved underground to Natanz. However, this report clearly states that no fuel has been added yet.
Tuesday’s report released today says uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas, the fuel that activates the centrifuges, is now being pumped into these banned IR-2ms.
Tehran is pumping nuclear power from an interconnected cluster of high-tech IR-2m machines in Natanz, which is in conflict with an international agreement to only use first-generation IR-1 machines
US President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office before releasing an update on Operation Warp Speed last week
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran earlier this year
The latest IAEA report to member states states: “On November 14, 2020, the agency confirmed that Iran had started adding UF6 to the recently installed cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges in the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) to be fed into Natanz. “
Iran’s flaunted violation of the nuclear deal could create tension in the White House over whether an attack on Iran is warranted.
Tehran reacted angrily yesterday at the suggestion that the US president was considering attacking its soil.
Ali Rabiei, an Iranian government spokesman, warned that “any action against the Iranian nation is certain to receive a devastating reaction.”
In another provocation today, Iran said it would “automatically” return to its commitments under the 2018 agreement if Joe Biden lifts sanctions imposed over the past two years.
Tehran’s return to its commitments “can be automatic and does not require any conditions or even negotiations,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments published in state media on Wednesday.
Zarif argued that “America has an obligation to implement Resolution 2231 as a member of the United Nations and its Security Council,” referring to the United Nations Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal.
“If it goes through this resolution and the sanctions are lifted and there are no obstacles to Iran’s economic activities, Iran will meet its obligations under the deal,” he said.
Iran, which denies wanting to build a nuclear bomb, has gradually suspended most of its key commitments under the agreement since May 2019.
It argued it was responding to the sanctions and the inability of the other parties – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – to provide Tehran with the promised economic benefits of the deal.
Zarif described Biden as a “foreign policy veteran” whom he has known for 30 years.
Once at the White House, Biden “was able to lift all of these (sanctions) with three executive orders,” argued Zarif.
If Biden’s government does so, Iran’s return to nuclear commitments will be “swift,” the minister added.
Defense sources told the New York Times that Trump had asked about options for a bombing – likely against Natanz, Iran’s main nuclear facility
The Natanz complex is largely underground and is one of the sites now monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency following the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal with the world powers
Iran has violated many of the restrictions placed on its nuclear activities by the 2015 agreement, including the purity with which it enriches uranium and its enriched uranium inventory.
These violations were in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the lifting of sanctions against the deal that had been lifted under the deal.
Trump reportedly asked his key national security aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller and Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, about a possible strike last Thursday.
Miller holds the top Pentagon job after Trump fired former Defense Secretary Mark Esper last Monday.
Trump’s advisors ultimately stopped him from starting a strike by warning that such action could spark a major conflict with Iran, an official source said.
A source confirmed Reuters’ report of the meeting, saying, “He was asking for options. They gave him the scenarios and he finally decided not to continue. ‘
Most of the Natanz complex is underground and is considered bombproof.
Last week’s IAEA report found that Iran’s uranium supplies are now twelve times higher than the limit set in the Obama-era pact, which Trump abandoned in 2018.
The agency said Iran had around 2,440 kg of low-enriched uranium on November 2, up from 2,100 kg on August 25.
The limit under the agreement signed with Great Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia is just over 200 kg.
The IAEA also reported that Iran has continued to fortify uranium to a purity of up to 4.5 percent, which is above the 3.67 percent allowed under the agreement.
The UN watchdog said Iran had denied its inspectors access to any other location that had evidence of previous nuclear activity.
While Trump has opted against a missile attack, he may still be looking for ways to target Iranian assets and allies, including militias in Iraq.
The US has accused Iran of supporting terrorists in Gaza, Syria and Iraq, including a group that attacked the US embassy in Baghdad last December.
Days later, Trump ordered the drone attack that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, sparking several alarming days of high tension and a spate of Iranian missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.
Donald Trump reportedly asked advisors for a list of options on how to crack down on Iran, including a missile attack, a cyber attack, or an operation involving Israel. But Iran today warned that any US action would be met with a “devastating” response. Tehran had previously fired rockets at US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in January. Iran is also suspected of being behind cyber attacks and mysterious explosions on Persian Gulf shipping
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