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IRAN HAS INFORMED the International Atomic Energy Agency that it intends to produce uranium enriched to up to 20% purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna accord, the UN nuclear watchdog said last night.
“Iran informed the agency of its intention to enrich uranium at a rate of up to 20% in its Fordow underground plant, to comply with a law recently passed by the Iranian parliament,” an IAEA spokesperson told AFP.
The letter dated 31 December “did not state exactly when this enrichment activity would begin”, the spokesperson added.
Russian ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov reported the information earlier on Twitter, citing a report submitted by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to the board of governors.
“It is an additional blow,” a diplomat based in Vienna told AFP, as Tehran continues to retaliate to US sanctions by progressively abandoning limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the deal.
According to the latest report available from the UN agency, published in November, Tehran was enriching uranium to levels greater than the limit provided for in the Vienna agreement (3.67%) but not exceeding the 4.5% threshold, and still complied with the Agency’s very strict inspection regime.
But there has been turmoil since the assassination in late November of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
In the aftermath of the attack, blamed on Israel, hardliners in Tehran pledged a response and parliament passed a controversial law calling for the production and storage of “at least 120 kilogrammes per year of 20% enriched uranium” and to “put an end” to the IAEA inspections intended to check that the country is not developing an atomic bomb.
The Iranian government opposed the initiative which was also condemned by the other signatories to the accord who called on Tehran not to “compromise the future”.
The other signatories to the deal – China, France, Germany, Russia and Britain – have been playing for time, in advance of Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president.
The Democrat has shown himself to be determined to save the pact.
Biden, who takes office on 20 January, has signalled Washington would rejoin the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear programme.
The deal has been unravelling ever since President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew from it in May 2018 and imposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said the change of administration in the US means that there is “a last window” for progress that “shouldn’t be wasted”.
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You can turn them off?
I have heard it all now. There is a disorder for everything
Pretty dependent on mine, but it’s pretty sad when you look at a group of people in a pub / restaurant and they’re all tapping away in silence together. I’m good at putting it away when I’m with friends / family
Yep, I am totally addicted to mine…it’s always by my side. If I leave the house without it I go straight back home to pick it up… Bit of a worry really!
Yup that’s me !! I panic tbh thought it was unhealthy alright ! Since I was 16 I have slept with my phone next to me !! Lol it sounds crazy when I think about it! I’m more afraid of misplacing my phone than misplacing my friend lol
So have this.
Yeah i know someone like that.. wakes up in the morning and checks email twitter and FB. dont think she checks for texts of phone calls tho.
Shouldn’t it be called iPhobia?
It was inevitable really. We live in the information age where everything and anything can be done ‘via web’.. I’m addicted to mine, but tbh I think that’s an acceptable lifestyle in this day and age.
don’t give a monkeys about my phone, can easily go a day or two without checking it and i use a 5 year old 2g iphone
Well, it’ll probably be starting school in September so at least you’ll have the day to yourself.
Hahaha @David
This disease was rampant up until the end of the last century. Lead people to vandalise public phones (a phone in a glass box at the side of the street) by ripping off the hand set ( the part of the glass box you had to speak into)
You talking about me?
Haha does NOT apply to me at all! I have the most wonderful phone HTC RHYME and I never Ever know where it is and so never hear it ringing and so do not know who called or texted me. I am so bad that sometimes I see Txts only days later lol
Ah jaysus, couldn’t you have put up a picture of an iPhone. What the hell is that yolk
my worse case was the other night my friend got a tx and straight away all I could think was where is my phone, couldnt c it in my sight so spent ages looking for it for no reason…….is there a helpline for us yet???
duh of course its ok unless you’re from the 1920′s
have your say