The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that the Iranian regime has informed the IAEA that it “intends to produce low-enriched uranium … up to 20 percent at the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant,” the Associated Press reported on, January 2, 2021).
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the regime’s Atomic Energy Organization, also told state TV on January 1, about preparations for the start of producing 20% enriched uranium. He said that their representative in Vienna had delivered a letter to the IAEA, announcing, Iran would need to inject natural uranium in centrifuges at Fordo for material already enriched to 4% to begin the process of going to 20%, and it should be done under IAEA supervision. He added, “We must implement the parliament’s resolution, but the government must provide instructions outlining regulations on how to implement it, and the president must issue an order for execution… We can start to work very quickly.”
Also, Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani’s chief of staff, said on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, “Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization set the stage for 20% enrichment according to the announced instructions so that 120 kg of 20% enriched uranium is accumulated in one year.”
The clerical regime’s actions over the past year, especially 20% enrichment, violate almost all the provisions of the 2015 nuclear agreement and leaves no doubt that this regime has never stopped its project for building an atomic bomb. At the same time, it has taken advantage of all the assistance and concessions the nuclear agreement provided to step up the export of terrorism, warmongering, and domestic repression. Simultaneously, the clerical regime is exploiting the political situation in the United States to blackmail its Western counterparts into lifting the sanctions and turning a blind eye on its ballistic missile program, export of terrorism, and meddling in the region.
As the Iranian Resistance has reiterated, the re-imposition of six Security Council resolutions, the complete halt to enrichment, the closure of nuclear sites, and anywhere, anytime inspections are indispensable to prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
January 2, 2021
