[ad_1]
Iran passed a law on Wednesday to immediately begin enriching uranium to a level closer to weapon-grade and to suspend access by international inspectors to its nuclear facilities if sanctions are not lifted in early February, shortly thereafter. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office.
The law was the clearest consequence of the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, which Iranian officials have vowed to avenge.
The law orders the Iranian atomic energy agency to immediately begin enriching uranium to 20%, reducing Iran’s enrichment program to the level that existed before the 2015 nuclear deal.
While converting the entire stock may take six months, the order to do so could be seen as a provocation in the dying days of the Trump administration. President Trump, who has made containment of Iran one of his administration’s main foreign policy goals, considered attacking Iran during its lame duck period.
The law sets a two-month deadline for the lifting of oil and banking sanctions against Iran before banning inspectors, creating a potential crisis for the early days of the Biden administration. The timing seems deliberately destined to pressure Biden to join the nuclear deal with Iran as soon as he takes office.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the measure was intended to send a message to the West in the wake of the assassination that “the one-sided game is finished”.
Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament initially passed the law in an angry session on Tuesday in which lawmakers ranted over the murder of the scientist. The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior Defense Ministry official, was killed on Friday in an ambush that intelligence officials attributed to Israel.
“The criminal enemy will have no remorse unless we show a fierce reaction,” Qalibaf said. Lawmakers stood in the chamber, fists in the air, chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” as they passed the bill.
The law was ratified by Iran’s Guardian Council, a designated body that oversees the elected government, on Wednesday.
President Hassan Rohani opposed this initiative, calling it counterproductive.
“The government does not agree with this legislation and considers it harmful to diplomacy,” he said Wednesday before the law was ratified.
However, his government is now obliged to execute him.
The order of 20% uranium enrichment would be of concern as it is considered to be close to the threshold for bomb-grade uranium, which can reach around 90%. Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, although Israeli officials and some U.S. intelligence officials believe Iran has a secret weapons program.
Iran had limited its enrichment to less than 4% under the nuclear deal, which the Trump administration abandoned in 2018.
The law said higher enrichment was conditional on continued sanctions against Iran and required European nations that are still parties to the nuclear deal to provide US sanctions relief.
The law also provides for the storage of 120 kilograms per year of 20 percent enriched uranium for “peaceful purposes”.
It was not immediately clear how long it would take Iran to achieve 20% enrichment, but David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said it could be done in as little as six months.
“They know how to do it,” Mr. Albright said in an interview. “They already have. Less than six months is the worst case if they devote all their resources to it. “
Mr Rouhani’s top adviser, Hesameddin Ashena, said Mr Biden’s brief window of action after taking office could allow the hard-line faction to take credit for lifting the sanctions and for forcing Washington to return to the nuclear deal by threat instead. by diplomacy.
It would depend on Mr. Biden’s adherence to Iran’s demands.
It’s also possible that the harsh approach could alienate a new administration that was committed to working with Iran to rebuild the nuclear deal.
Biden’s transition team did not comment on Iranian law.
“We will decline to comment on this development out of respect for the principle that there is only one president at a time,” said Ned Price, a spokesperson.
“I think the law is a clear sign that Tehran will not take a wait-and-see attitude towards Biden’s Iranian policies,” said Henry Rome, senior analyst on Iran at Eurasia Group. “Tehran wants to be at the top of the new administration’s agenda and stepping up its nuclear program is a surefire way to do it.”
Katie Glueck and William J. Broad contributed reporting.
[ad_2]
Source link