The Iranian administration’s spokesperson Ali Rabiee said on Monday morning that Tehran has officially started to enrich uranium to a purity level of 20 percent.
“The president had in recent days ordered the implementation of the Strategic Action to Lift Sanctions law. Accordingly, the gas injection process started a few hours ago, and the first UF6 enriched uranium product will be achieved within a few hours,” Rabiee said, noting that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had issued the order to implement the law of strategic measure passed by Majlis to remove the sanctions in the past few days.
Last month, the Iranian parliament approved a law, dubbed the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, which requires the government to scale back more obligations under the JCPOA.
Last Friday, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said his country had notified the IAEA of its decision about boosting enrichment activities in compliance with a parliamentary bill.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday reiterated that Iran’s missile and defense capabilities would by no means be subject to negotiations. He rejected calls from President-elect Joe Biden’s team for talks on Iran’s missile program.
“No negotiation has been, is being, or will be held about Iran’s defense power,” he stressed, adding that the 2015 nuclear deal must be implemented in full and without any preconditions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stated: “Iran’s decision to continue violating its commitments, to raise the enrichment level and advance the industrial ability to enrich uranium underground, cannot be explained in any way except as the continued realization of its intention to develop a military nuclear program.”
The PM insisted that “Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons.”