Iran's Nuclear Development As A Suppression Of Western Parties Lifting Sanctions

Iran's nuclear reactor in Bushehr, southern Iran. (BBC/EPA)

JAKARTA - Iran's Atomic Nuclear Agency Head Mohammad Eslami said his country was enriching uranium on a larger scale to force the West to lift sanctions.

In an interview with the local newspaper Ethilaat on Saturday (10/6) quoted by Antara, Eslami said that the activity of enrichment of high purity is in line with the law aimed at lifting sanctions.

Under Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium by only 3.67 percent in exchange for easing sanctions. The threshold was later violated by Iran after the United States unilaterally exited the agreement in 2018.

Currently, Iran is enriching at a purity of up to 60 percent, both at the Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan Province and at the Fordow underground nuclear plant in Qom Province.

According to Eslami, higher level enrichment has several purposes, including for the production of radiofarmation raw materials. The interaction with the UN nuclear watchdog agency is also still ongoing, he said.

Eslami criticized the US for not complying with the 2015 nuclear agreement and withdrawing from this pact. He stressed that the law passed by parliament in early 2021 was to force the West to lift sanctions.

Eslami's statement came a day after Iran's permanent representative at the United Nations denied reports of the achievement of a "temporary agreement" with the US in order to limit Iran's nuclear enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

Since April 2021 Tehran and Washington have been indirect talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement. However, the process has stalled since August last year.