Tehran feeding gas into new centrifuges as countermeasure to fresh US sanctions: FM
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the recent decision to feed gas into cascades of new centrifuges was a response to the United States’ insane obsession with imposing new sanctions on Iran.
According to Press TV, he said in remarks on Tuesday that the “irrational” and “insane” sanctions the US has imposed on Iran will not have an adverse effect on the country’s progress.
“I would like to point out that in response to this American action, Iran started feeding gas into hundreds of new generation centrifuges last night,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
The top diplomat made it clear that the Americans will not gain any concessions in the negotiations that aim to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement (officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)) by imposing new illegal sanctions.
“They need to put aside their excessive demands,” he said. “We are people of logic and dialogue and we are serious about reaching a strong agreement, but if the Americans want to continue on this path, our hands will not be tied.”
On Monday, US Treasury and State Department imposed illegal sanctions on a total of six companies, four based in Hong Kong, one in Singapore, and one in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The US said the firms have helped Iran sell tens of millions of dollars in oil and petrochemical products to East Asian countries.
Later in the day, Iran said it was beginning to feed gas into hundreds of advanced IR-1 and IR-6 machines after notifying the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said the decision was made in line with “the Strategic Action to Lift Sanctions and Protect the Nation’s Rights,” a law passed by the parliament in 2020 to counter the illegal sanctions imposed on the country over its peaceful nuclear program.
He said the move is also part of efforts to raise Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity to 190 thousand separative work units (SWU), which he described as the country’s minimum requirement.
He stressed that the IAEA has been notified of Iran’s decision, adding that the new centrifuges have already been installed and it will take between 10 to 15 days for 500 IR-6 machines to become operational.
SS
