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DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran's chief said on Sunday that Tehran was preparing to increase uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal collapsed after the US exit.
The head of the Iranian Organization of Atomic Energy, Ali-Akbar Salehi, attends the opening of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna (Austria) on September 18, 2017. REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger
In June, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said the installation of the Natanz nuclear power plant would be completed within a month.
Salehi's statement in June came days after the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he had ordered preparations to increase the country's uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal with the powers world had collapsed.
Sunday, the official IRNA news agency quoted Salehi: "(Ayatollah Khamenei) has ordered us to install and complete a very advanced hall for the construction of modern centrifuges, and this room is now fully equipped.
Salehi said plans announced by Iran to build nuclear reactors for ships, while remaining within the limits set by its atomic agreement with the major powers, "were progressing well but would take 10 to 15 years," he said. indicated IRNA.
"A third step (in reaction to the US withdrawal) could be to suspend some of the limits of the nuclear deal, for example on the volume and level of enrichment," Salehi said, according to IRNA .
"And the final scenario can be a complete release of the nuclear agreement, which, I hope, will never happen, with the help of (other signatories), because everyone would suffer, "added Salehi.
The Iranian authorities said they would decide whether to leave the 2015 nuclear deal after studying a set of European economic measures that could help offset US sanctions.
Report by the editorial board of Dubai, edited by Louise Heavens
