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Informed Source: Iran’s Enriched Uranium Exceeds 300kg N. Deal Limit

Iran's 3.67%-enriched uranium stockpile has passed the 300 kilogram limit stated in the nuclear deal as part of Iran's measures to modify its undertakings under the agreement in response to the US abrogation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and Europeans' inaction in complying with their obligations, an informed source said.

“After measuring Iran’s enriched materials last Wednesday, inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) weighed them again today and (said that) Iran’s stockpile has exceeded 300kg,” the source told FNA on Monday.

Late last month, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Iran had already quadrupled its capacity of uranium production, warning that the country would breach the limit of 300 kilograms set in the landmark nuclear deal of 2015, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by ten days.

He warned then that if the Europeans fail to meet Iran’s demands, Tehran would even further speed up its operations for enriching uranium.

“For Europeans, there is still time, but if they are asking for more time, it means that whether they are incompetent or they are unwilling to deliver on their commitments,” underlined the second man in command in the AEOI.

“When the two objectives are accomplished based on the first step defined in the announcement of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the second step (i.e. enriching uranium above 3.7 percent level of purity) will take nothing more than 2 to 3 days,” he underlined.

“If it is important for European countries to save the JCPOA, they have to make their efforts because the moves undertaken by the Islamic Republic are completely within the framework of the JCPOA,” Kamalvandi stressed.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, after its one-year strategic patience in the face of the violation of its JCPOA rights, the US unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA, and sanctions against selling its enriched uranium and heavy water, undertook these two measures and gave this 60-day grace to other signatory states which will be snapped back if Iran’s JCPOA rights are observed, otherwise Tehran will announce its second round of measures at the end of the 60-day ultimatum,” he warned.

Also, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani wrote in a memo for FNA last Tuesday that his country would further modify its nuclear deal undertakings on July 7 given the European states’ inaction to save the internationally-endorsed agreement and the United States’ increasing sanctions.

“Based on a decision by the SNSC, the second step to modify Iran’s nuclear deal undertakings will seriously start within the framework of paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal,” he highlighted.

He affirmed that the new steps will make the countries which had mistaken Iran’s patience with weakness and inaction aware that “Iran’s reaction to the deceptive political attempts to restrict the inalienable rights of the Iranian people is no different from its response to the US drone’s violation of its aerial borders”.

Shamkhani blasted Europe for not paying any price to save the nuclear deal and its pleasure with the US pressures against Iran, and said the recent statement by the three European states and US President Donald Trump’s game of sanctions are the two sides of the same coin, whose incentives are being displayed more than ever after a year of useless talks with Europe.

His comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the European countries’ procrastination in operationalizing the long-promised INSTEX, the bloc’s financial mechanism to bypass the US unilateral sanctions against Tehran, showed that they had neither the power nor the will to abide by their commitments under the nuclear deal.

Zarif said that the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX) was a preliminary step of the European members of the nuclear deal to partially deliver on their commitments.

He added that even if the mechanism was fully put into practice it would not mean that the European Union and its members had completely met their undertakings stipulated in the Iran deal of 2015, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or what they promised Tehran to do and compensate for after the unilateral withdrawal of Washington from the agreement.

The extended delay to implement the INSTEX shows that Europeans are neither capable nor willing to undertake any measure, the Iranian top diplomat reiterated, adding, “Accordingly, we will keep doing what we announced to do under the article 36 of the JCPOA. However, whenever Europeans believed that they have to pay the price for preserving their security and take a move, we will snap back, as we have already announced.”

The Iranian diplomatic chief went on saying that currently Europeans had enough reasons to take action and admit that they would face consequences of not honoring their commitments if they don’t abide by their undertakings.

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