The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency on Monday accused the Iranian government of speeding up the pace at which it violates the restrictions set under the 2015 nuclear agreement signed between the US, Iran and several European countries .
Tehran has shown an increasing willingness to ignore the post-Obama-era deal.President Trump
Donald TrumpUS, South Korea agree on troop cost-sharing Graham: Trump can make GOP bigger, stronger, or he ‘can destroy it’ Biden nominates female generals whose promotions were reportedly delayed under Trump MORE took the US out in 2018.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report released to member states and obtained by Reuters shows that Iran’s Natanz plant has commissioned a third set of IR-2m centrifuges used in uranium enrichment for the country’s nuclear power plants.
The use of the IR-2m centrifuges is not allowed under the 2015 agreement, although the purity of the enriched uranium produced by the centrifuges remains much lower than what is needed for weapons production, according to Reuters.
“On March 7, 2021, the Agency verified with FEP that: Iran had begun feeding natural UF6 to the third cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges,” the IAEA report reads.
“The fourth cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges had been installed, but still needed to be fed with natural UF6; installation of a fifth cascade of IR-2m centrifuges was underway; and the installation of a sixth cascade of IR-2m centrifuges was yet to begin, ”it continued.
The Iranian government has been pressuring the Biden government to return to the 2015 agreement since the president took office in January. The White House has so far opposed those calls, saying it is up to Tehran to return to compliance, while refusing to roll back sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after it left the accord.
The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment on the IAEA’s latest findings.
At the beginning of last month, the Iranian secretary of state laid down responsibility for the nuclear deal that would get back on track in the United States.
“It was the United States that abandoned the deal,” Javad Zarif said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” adding, “It was the United States that violated the deal. “Stayed and abided by the deal. So it is up to the United States to return to the deal, to honor its commitments.”