Strong warning of Iran’s attempts to enrich uranium
Iran, “If you want to return to the nuclear agreement, from easing sanctions”
US President Joe Biden [이미지출처=로이터연합뉴스]
[아시아경제 김수환 기자] U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the US will not first ease sanctions against Iran in relation to the renegotiation of the Iran Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA · Comprehensive Joint Action Plan). There are observations that the direction of the nuclear agreement is flowing into the fog as the two countries continue to have a fierce confrontation over the renegotiation of the nuclear agreement.
On the 7th (local time), President Biden made this statement in an interview with CBS in the United States. He then urged, “Iran must first stop enriching uranium,” and announced a policy that economic sanctions could be eased only after Iran’s return to the nuclear agreement.
This can be interpreted as impering that Iran’s return to the nuclear agreement must precede the position of Iran’s demand for the preemptive ease of sanctions by the US. In a speech to air force commanders ahead of the 42nd anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, Hamenei said, “If the United States wants to return to Iran’s (nuclear agreement) obligations, the United States must lift sanctions completely.” Not only that, but we have to take action to lift sanctions,” he said.
In a post on his Twitter that day, he ordered the US to lift sanctions, saying, “Iran fulfilled all of its obligations under the 2015 nuclear agreement, but the United States and three European countries did not.”
Meanwhile, in July 2015, the United States signed an Iran nuclear agreement in which five permanent members of the UN Security Council (USA, UK, France, Russia, China) and six major countries including Germany participated, and Western countries stepped up economic sanctions against Iran. Agreed to ease. As a result, Iran has decided to abolish all nuclear weapons development programs and limit the uranium enrichment limit to 4%.
However, in 2018, the Donald Trump administration officially declared withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal and revived economic sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran violated the provisions of the nuclear agreement and re-implemented its uranium enrichment and nuclear weapons development program. Currently, the Iranian side has restarted the Pordo uranium enrichment plant to raise the concentration of uranium to 20%, the level before the nuclear agreement. In addition, in December of last year, the Iranian parliament passed a bill obligating the Iranian government to develop nuclear weapons unless the US eases economic sanctions within two months.
On the 1st, US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln warned against Iran’s retry attempts to enrich uranium, saying, “(Iran) will have uranium enriched to a level that can be weaponized within a few weeks.” It has urged a full stop.
Reporter Kim Soo-hwan [email protected]