Face of Nation : Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator is set announce more cuts in its commitments to a 2015 nuclear deal, a semi-official news agency reports.
Top negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will be joined by other officials in making the announcement at a Sunday morning news conference, the Fars news agency reports.
Tension has spiked between Tehran and Washington since last year, when US President Donald Trump quit a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers.
The US then reimposed sanctions that had been lifted under the pact in return for Tehran curbing its sensitive nuclear work.
Under the deal, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent fissile material, well below the 20 per cent it was reaching before the deal and the roughly 90 per cent suitable for a nuclear weapon.
In reaction to US sanctions, which have notably targeted its main foreign revenue stream of crude oil exports, Iran said in May it would scale back its commitments to the deal after a 60-day deadline.
Separately on Saturday a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, said Iranian officials were unanimous in raising the level of uranium enrichment beyond the 3.67 per cent set in the nuclear accord.
“For example, we need uranium enriched to 5 per cent for use in the Bushehr (power plant) and this is a completely peaceful purpose,” Velayati said in remarks posted on Khamenei’s official website, hinting that this might be the first step Iran might take in raising the enrichment level.
