Iran Vows Fast Enrichment Growth If N. Deal Dropped

Iran’s nuclear chief warned that the country still enjoys the needed capabilities to resume uranium enrichment operations at even higher capacity than before the Vienna Agreement with the world powers if the US-led parties continue to disrespect the nuclear deal.
“We can go to better conditions compared with the past as quickly as possible,” Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said in a televised interview on Wednesday.

“Of course, this will happen if the other side violates the nuclear deal and this violation will be confirmed by the board (in Iran) which supervises (implementation of) the nuclear deal,” he added.

Salehi expressed regret that the western officials have uttered contradictory words on Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers in recent months, calling them as a new plot.

“Certain EU members speak to strengthen the nuclear deal and some others make unjustified remarks,” he added.

His remarks came after Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called on the AEOI today to prepare a plan for the construction of a nuclear plant in the country to enrich uranium in response to the US disloyalty to the nuclear deal.

Addressing the Iranian MPs in an open session of the parliament in Tehran on Wednesday, Larijani initially blasted the recent UN Chief’s report to the UN Security Council on the implementation of the resolution 2231.

“Although the UN chief’s recent report to the UNSC on the nuclear deal and the remarks by envoys of certain members of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) didn’t entail any legal undertaking for Iran, it included mistakes in different aspects which is somehow a free fall for the UN chief and the UNSC,” he underlined.

Larijani expressed deep regret over UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s move, and warned the US administration and Congress that their hostile measures against the nuclear deal have intensified to the extent that they have left no option for Iran but reciprocity.

“The AEOI is necessitated to prepare the plan for building a nuclear plant for enrichment to the degrees needed by the country based on relevant laws and inform the parliament on the process,” he added.

In December, the Iranian foreign ministry had also underlined that the country will adopt reciprocal moves if faced with the powers, specially the US, measures against the nuclear agreement clinched in July.

“Any measure outside the agreed details (related to the nuclear deal) will be responded by Iran’s reciprocal and appropriate actions,” former Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told reporters in Tehran.

He referred to the remarks made by the American officials and presidential election hopefuls in the US against Iran, and said, “The internal issues and power game in the US are not related to us.”

“What is related to our interests will be implemented based on the agreements made in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the technical points which have been considered before (its endorsement),” Jaber Ansari stressed.

Also, in June, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned the US presidential candidates to watch their mouth when speaking of the Vienna nuclear deal, stressing that Tehran will also ditch the agreement if future White House leaders show disrespect and discard it.

“We do not violate the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action also known as the nuclear deal), but if the opposite party violates it and tears it apart as the US presidential candidates state and threaten at present, then we will burn it,” Ayatollah Khamenei warned during his remarks at a meeting with the heads of the three branches of power, high-ranking officials and different government bodies and armed forces on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan here in Tehran.

The Iranian leader’s warning is deemed as a general message to the political brass in Washington, but seems to be more addressed to the US presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The totally estrange presidential nominee has repeatedly warned that he would tear apart and discard the nuclear deal with Iran on day one of office if he is ever elected, while his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton has said that she would remain loyal to the deal although she has vowed to be tough on Iran.

The Iranian leader further blasted the US for hypocrisy in return for Iran’s honesty, saying, “As regards the JCPOA, the opposite party has defied its duty that has been removing the sanctions, the problem with the banks has not yet been resolved, the oil tankers insurance is done at a limited scope, the crude revenues and our money that are in other countries are not given back to us and the Americans have not fulfilled a major part of their undertakings, while we have done our part and shut down the 20-percent enrichment at Fordo (nuclear enrichment facility) and Arak (heavy water reactor).”

He also warned that the hostilities between Tehran and Washington would not end as the US is resolved to topple the Islamic Republic. “It is wrong to assume that we can come along with the US, this is wrong and we cannot rely on illusions as their issue is with the life and essence of the Islamic Republic and this cannot be resolved through negotiations.”

Yet, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that the arrogant party seeking continued animosity is not Tehran, but Washington that wants regime change in Iran.

“Some imagine that hostilities are the result of our belligerence towards the US; (then if that’s true) what has the Islamic Republic done to France? Why did France play the bad cop in the nuclear talks and why are the Netherlands and Canada showing enmity (towards Iran),” the Supreme Leader asked.

The US has been lagging in implementation of the last July nuclear deal with Iran. Months after the implementation of the nuclear deal, Iran is complaining that the US has not shown its loyalty to the agreement in action.