The administration of US President Joe Biden has stressed that it would not accept Iran having a nuclear bomb.
The UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that Iran had started producing uranium metal, in a fresh breach of the limits laid out in the 2015 deal which aims to ensure Tehran cannot acquire a nuclear weapon.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had begun producing small amounts of uranium metal, a process that is prohibited under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The Agency on 8 February verified 3.6 gram of uranium metal at Iran’s Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant (FPFP) in Esfahan,” the IAEA statement added.
The 'E3' group of leading European powers - France, Germany and the United Kingdom - on Friday condemned Iran's move.
"In escalating its non-compliance, Iran is undermining the opportunity for renewed diplomacy to fully realize the objectives of the JCPOA," they said in a statement.
"We reiterate that Iran has no credible civilian justification for these activities, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon," the statement by the three countries said.
It said that under the nuclear deal, Iran committed not to engage in producing or acquiring uranium metal for 15 years.
"We strongly urge Iran to halt these activities without delay and not to take any new non-compliant steps on its nuclear program," the statement said.
US State Department Spokesman Ned Price on Thursday reiterated that the Biden administration would not accept Iran having a nuclear bomb and that Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers was designed to prevent it.
“As a candidate and as president, Joe Biden has been very clear,” Price told reporters in a briefing.
“We will not countenance a nuclear-armed Iran. That was at the crux of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It will be a guiding principle of our approach towards this challenge there, period. Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.”
In an interview with The Guardian, Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, a commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said Washington was not in a position to set preconditions for Iran’s return to the nuclear deal, and called for guarantees that the US will not leave the agreement again.
“The Biden administration talked about diplomacy, multilateralism, and interaction in the international arena as well as returning to its international commitments.
“However, we still see the same policies from the newly elected administration as we did from the Trump team: not lifting the oppressive sanctions against Iranian people, continuing to block Iran oil revenue in foreign banks while we need the money to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Altogether this means the continuation of Trumpism in international relations," Dehghan added.
