“(Uranium) enrichment… continues [at present] with a maximum ceiling of 60%, which led Westerners to rush to negotiations, and it will continue with the lifting of sanctions by both 20% and 5%,” Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted saying.
The 2015 JCPOA limits enrichment to 3.67%, but since the US withdrew from the accord in 2018, Iran has been openly breaching its terms, stockpiling mounting quantities of 60%-enriched uranium. It has said it is capable of enriching to 90% — weapons-grade. Before the deal took effect, it was enriching to 20%.
Eslami’s comments were surprising since, according to diplomats quoted by Reuters 10 days ago, the draft outline of the revived deal includes a series of steps for all parties to take following its final approval, starting with Iran suspending enrichment of uranium above 5%.
The first phase would also reportedly include the unfreezing of some $7 billion in Iranian funds stuck in South Korean banks under US sanctions, as well as the release of Western prisoners held in Iran. READ MORE
