European powers have expressed deep concern over Iran’s plans to produce metallic uranium, warning that Tehran “has no reliable civilian use” for the element.
“The production of metallic uranium has potentially serious military implications,” said the chancellors of Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement on Saturday.
Iran has signed a 15-year ban on the “production or acquisition of plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys” under the Joint Global Action Plan (JCPOA) signed in 2015 with world powers.
“We strongly urge Iran to stop this activity and return to fulfilling its commitments to the JCPOA without further delay, if it is serious about preserving the agreement,” said the ministers.
The call came after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had notified the nuclear watchdog that was advancing research on metallic uranium production, with the aim of providing advanced fuel for a research reactor in Tehran .
In response to the chancellors’ statement, Iran’s atomic energy organization urged the IAEA to avoid creating any “misunderstandings”, adding that it had not yet “submitted the uranium metal factory project information questionnaire” to the security dog.
This would be done “after making the necessary preparations and … within the time limit set by law,” the organization said, referring to a five-month period set by the Iranian parliament in December that ordered Tehran to prepare the factory.
He said he hoped the IAEA would no longer cause “misunderstandings in the future by refraining from mentioning unnecessary details in its reports”.
The 2015 historic deal struck between Iran and the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany to limit Tehran’s nuclear program is largely in shambles since Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions.
The Iranian government has signaled its willingness to engage with US President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on January 20 and has expressed a willingness to return to diplomacy with Tehran.
Biden on Saturday appointed Wendy Sherman as the chief American negotiator for the Obama-era Iran deal, as deputy secretary of state. It is another clear sign that Biden wants to return to the deal by which Iran drastically cut its nuclear program in exchange for promises to ease sanctions.