File photo: An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | Reuters
As Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in 1979, the head of the country’s nuclear program announced that Tehran is working on a prototype centrifuge 50 times faster than those allowed under the nuclear deal.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told Iranian state TV that the new prototype is called IR-9 and that it is 50 times faster than the first-generation IR-1s allowed under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Salehi said the move would show Iran's "capacity and determination" to defy
Under the nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to operate up to 5,060 IR-1 centrifuges until 2026, ten years since the deal’s implementation.
As part of the deal, Iran was to reduce its uranium stockpile to 300kgs from 10,000kgs, not exceeding the limit until 2031. In addition, Iran was supposed to keep the level of enrichment at 3.67 per cent. While low-enriched uranium is suitable for commercial nuclear energy production, highly-enriched uranium can be used in creating nuclear warheads.
The advanced centrifuges allow Iran to speed up the production of enriched uranium, which could be used to manufacture a nuclear bomb. Salehi said that the country is now operating 60 IR-6 centrifuges—double the number previously known.
In 2010, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced a Fatwa against the production of nuclear weapons, calling them antithetical to Islam’s teachings. Since then, Iran has categorically denied being interested in producing nuclear weapons.
However, Iran’s rhetoric towards the US has grown increasingly hostile since the latter pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal on May 18, 2018. The US withdrawal from the deal neded many of the sanctions reliefs that were a condition for the deal to be signed in the first place. Since then, Iran has been gradually scaling backs its commitments under the nuclear deal.
The US has also been ramping up its sanctions on Iran, targeting the Iranian construction sector with new sanctions on October 31. The impasse between the two has led to Iran refusing to re-engage in talks with the US,
Thousands gathered on Monday near the US embassy in Tehran, chanting “Death to America”. Outside the embassy, Reuters reported Army chief Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi as saying, “Our fight with America is over our independence, over not submitting to bullying, over values, beliefs and our religion… “They [Americans] will continue their hostilities, like the proverbial poisonous scorpion whose nature it is to sting and cannot be stopped unless it is crushed.”
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