New construction work is underway at Iran’s submarine Fordo nuclear site, satellite images seen by the Associated Press news agency and found by an anonymous Israeli defense analyst show.
The purpose of the work is unknown and may be innocent, but Iran will no doubt be asked to explain the photos at a meeting of foreign ministers for signatories to Iran’s registered nuclear deal. for Monday, at which plans for a U.S.-Iran coalition are expected to be revoked to the treaty. No work was deemed to be taking place on the site.
Iran said in September that it had begun increasing uranium enrichment at Fordo as one of a series of five steps taken to reduce its obligations under the agreement in response to Donald Trump’s decision to leave the agreement in 2018 .
Iran ‘s uranium – rich stock is more than 2.4 tonnes, 12 times the cap set by the agreement, although it is still far lower than Iran’ s 8 tonnes before it was signed. Iran has also begun enriching with advanced centrifuges at its underground plant at Natanz, where the agreement states that it can only use first-generation IR-1 machines.
Iran says it has the right to change its enrichment commitments due to US non-compliance, and the failure of the EU to trade with Iran.
He says he has been building underground at Fordo to avert U.S. or Israeli military attacks. Construction began on the site at the end of September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by AP show the construction taking place at the northwest corner of the site.
Iran allows UN military investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency into the site, but they are often accused of trying to withhold information from the IAEA, and in 2009 found U.S. intelligence that Iran was carrying out nuclear work at Fordo was breaking promises. Iran insisted that there was no need to declare the 2009 operation to the UN, but this was rejected by the US and was a backdrop for the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran’s chief executive, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that Iran would fully abide by its promises under the treaty within hours of U.S. construction sanctions.
“If sanctions can be lifted, we should not delay, not even for an hour,” Khamenei said in remarks similar to those made by President Hassan Rouhani earlier in the year. “I support the country’s officials as long as they are committed to the nation’s goals.”
An intense debate has been raging in Tehran over whether the U.S. can ever be treated as a trusted partner after their return to the 2015 contract.
Most groups in Iran believe that the government must at least say that it will not allow the existing agreement to be changed or extended to include other issues such as the program. civilian missiles. German foreign minister Heiko Maas last week called for a follow-up agreement, as did the UK foreign affairs select committee this week. But some Democratic senators are pushing Biden to return to the treaty unconditionally, saying preconditions will only lead to exclusion.
IAEA chief executive Rafael Grossi said Wednesday that a side agreement or protocol may need to be added to the deal to take account of the U.S. return to the settlement, and a recent breach from Iran. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, rejected the proposal, saying the sole responsibility of the agency was to monitor and verify nuclear-related activities and provide real-time update reports. He said there would be no change to the agreement.
“There would be no renegotiation of the contract and if it is revived, there is no need for a new document on the role of the organization. It is not necessary to make the situation worse, ”he said.