IRAN SAYS CAN PRODUCE HIGHER ENRICHED URANIUM IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS: TV
Iran said on Monday it could
produce higher enriched uranium within two days if the United States quit a
2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six major powers, Tehran’s Arabic language
al-Alam TV reported.
“If America pulls
out of the deal ... Iran could resume its 20 percent uranium enrichment in less
than 48 hours,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy
Organisation of Iran, told al-Alam TV.
Uranium refined to
20 percent fissile purity is well beyond the 5 percent normally required to
fuel civilian nuclear power plants, though still well short of highly enriched,
or 80-90 percent, purity needed for a nuclear bomb.
Kamalvandi said the
deal - under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment to help ensure it was for
peaceful purposes only and secured an end to financial sanctions in return - is
not re-negotiable, as demanded by the United States. The deal’s European
signatories - Germany, Britain and France, as well as Russia and China - are
committed to preserving the agreement.
SOURCE: REUTERS
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