DUBAI, UAE (Iran) – The Iranian president on Wednesday described Tehran’s decision to enrich uranium to 60% after saboteurs attacked a nuclear site “in response to your wickedness,” he said. incident with ongoing talks in Vienna on its nuclear deal. with world powers.
Israel, which has not commented on the attack, is suspected of carrying out this weekend’s assault on the Natanz nuclear facility, as part of an escalation of war between the two countries. .
The escalation of enrichment could lead to further retaliation, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed never to allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon. His country has preemptively bombed the nations of the Middle East twice to stop its atomic programs.
Speaking to his cabinet, a passionate President Hassan Rouhani said Natanz’s damaged first-generation IR-1 centrifuges would be replaced by advanced IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium much more quickly.
“You wanted to leave your hands empty during the conversations, but we have our hands full,” Rouhani said.
He added: “60% enrichment is a response to your wickedness. … We cut off both your hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges and the other with 60%. “
Iran announced on Tuesday that it would enrich uranium to its highest level in response to the weekend attack on Natanz. This also includes adding another 1,000 “more advanced” centrifuges.
Officials initially said enrichment would begin Wednesday. However, a tweet on Wednesday morning from Iran’s sending to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibadadi, suggested it could come later. He wrote that enrichment would only be handled by two cascades of IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at Natanz. A waterfall is a group of centrifuges that work together to enrich uranium more quickly.
“The modification of the process has just started and we hope to accumulate the product next week,” Gharibadadi wrote.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. However, the nuclear deal prevented it from having a enough uranium deposit to be able to pursue a nuclear weapon.
An annual U.S. intelligence report released Tuesday maintained the U.S. assessment that “Iran is not currently conducting the key nuclear weapons development activities that we believe would be necessary to produce a nuclear device.” ”.
The talks in Vienna are aimed at reactivating America’s role in this deal, which former President Donald Trump abandoned, and lifting the sanctions it imposed. Rouhani, in his comments, insisted on Wednesday that Iran is still seeking a negotiated agreement in Vienna on its program.
“The United States should return to the same conditions as in 2015 when we signed the nuclear deal,” Rouhani said.
Earlier, Iran had said it could use up to 60% enriched uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic does not currently have these vessels in its navy. The IAEA has confirmed that Iran has informed it of its plans to enrich up to 60%.
Iran had become rich by up to 20%, and even this meant a brief technical step up to 90% weapons grade levels.
The weekend attack on Natanz was initially described only as a power outage that fed ground workshops and underground enrichment rooms, but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the hardhead of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred to “several thousand damaged and destroyed centrifuges” in a state television interview. However, no other official has offered this figure and no images of the sequels have been posted.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.