TASS, February 2. Iran will unveil uranium enrichment centrifuges of a new generation in April, Special Assistant to the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Asghar Zarean said on Sunday.
"The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is set to unveil the new generation of domestically-manufactured centrifuge machines in April," ISNA quoted him as saying.
According to Zarean, latest modification of the centrifuge with SWU 50 (Separate Work Unit) was designed and manufactured by AEOI experts.
Iran nuclear deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed between Iran and six international mediators (the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, and France) in July 2015. Under the deal, Iran undertook to curb its nuclear activities and place them under total control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange of abandonment of the sanctions imposed previously by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union and the United States over its nuclear program.
Iran pledged not to enrich uranium above the level of 3.67% for 15 years and maintain enriched uranium stockpiles at the level not exceeding 300 kg, as well as not to build new heavy-water reactors, not to accumulate heavy water and not to develop nuclear explosive devices.
The future of the deal was called in question after the United States’ unilateral pullout on May 8, 2018 and Washington’s unilateral oil export sanctions against Teheran. Iran argues that all other participants, Europeans in the first place, ignore some of their own obligations in the economic sphere, thus making the deal in its current shape senseless. This said, it began to gradually scale down its commitments under the deal. In early January 2020, Iran announced the final phase of scaling back its commitments under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. Teheran’s new move implies that it will not comply with the restrictions on the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges set forth by the JCPOA.
Following it, the tree European JCPOA signatory powers said Iran’s actions were leaving them no other choice than to trigger the JCPOA dispute resolution mechanism.