DUBAI
• Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said yesterday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after the US' withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Mr Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement. "Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it," state media quoted him as saying.

"Of course, the (Supreme Leader) was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order, this factory has started all of its work."

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Last month, Mr Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> (Reuters) - Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signaled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it,” Salehi, said, according to state media.

“Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all of its work.”

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> An Iranian factory has started to produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, upping the stakes in a confrontation with the United States over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

The announcement by the head of Iran's atomic agency on Wednesday came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity, if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington's withdrawal.

Under terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have scrambled to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers will do, but signalled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

"Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it," said Salehi, according to state media.

"Of course, the [supreme leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order, this factory has started all of its work."

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for as many as 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Last month, Salehi announced Iran began working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility.

Salehi also told state TV on Wednesday the effort to acquire uranium has resulted in a stockpile of as much as 950 tonnes.

He said Iran imported 400 tonnes since the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, bringing its stockpile to between 900-950 tonnes - up from 500 tonnes.

Salehi said that's enough for Iran to reach its longtime goal of 190,000 centrifuge machines to enrich uranium.

The nuclear accord limits Iran's uranium enrichment to 3.67 percent, enough to use in a nuclear power plant but far lower than the 90 percent needed for an atomic weapon.

However, since the US pulled out of the deal in May, Iran has vowed to boost enrichment capacity to put pressure on the remaining signatories to live up to the agreement. </s> related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

REUTERS: Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington's withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signalled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

"Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but did not start it," Salehi, said, according to state media.

"Of course, the was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all of its work."

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> (Reuters) - Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.

FILE PHOTO: Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi attends the lecture "Iran after the agreement: Hopes & Concerns" in Vienna, Austria, September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.

Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signaled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the organization is aware of the announcement but has “no comment.”

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” Salehi, said, according to state media.

“Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work.”

The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.

Related Coverage European Investment Bank casts doubt on EU plan to salvage nuclear deal

Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons.

Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> TEHRAN: Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.

The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.

Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb. Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signalled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track.

It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the organisation is aware of the announcement but has "no comment." "Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it," Salehi, said, according to state media. </s> Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Wednesday that a new factory capable of producing 60 nuclear centrifuge rotors per day is completed and ready to go online if the nuclear deal collapses.

He also said Iran has been steadily acquiring uranium despite the “denuclearization” agreement and now has 950 tons of uranium ready to enrich.

Salehi said these measures were taken in accordance with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order to prepare for the collapse of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal), following the American withdrawal. He then admitted Iran was working on the centrifuge factory and piling up uranium even before the ink dried on the nuclear deal, as Reuters reported:

“Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” Salehi, said, according to state media. “Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work.” The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added. Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons. Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.

Iran’s lone civilian nuclear power plant requires just 27 tons of fuel per year, but Salehi claimed Iran’s entirely peaceful domestic uranium needs require searching for new deposits in Iran and spinning up the large-scale processing facility in Isfahan.

AFP quoted a spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization pitching his agency’s activities as nuclear blackmail against wavering Europeans:

“We have of course adopted some measures in order to prepare the ground for eventually increasing the level of enrichment if it is needed and if the negotiations with the Europeans fail,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman and vice-president of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told a news conference in Tehran. “We are of course continuing to carry out and implement our obligations based on the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that put strict limits on its atomic program in return for sanctions relief. “But at the same time, taking every scenario into consideration, we are preparing ourselves,” he added.

France, Germany, and the U.K. offered Iran a package of “economic guarantees” this month to keep them in the deal, but Iran judged their offer “insufficient” and demanded more.

Iran has declared its patience with negotiations is running out and the Europeans had better pony up more tribute quickly. European leaders are squirming under these demands because they know it will be difficult to convince their corporations to do business with Iran under the threat of secondary U.S. sanctions.

Iran is flirting with cryptocurrencies to alleviate these concerns by reducing American economic leverage, as the mullahs nervously eye their declining economy and wonder if the next protest movement might be too much for them to control.

While Iran was busy making a mockery of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal by piling up a mountain of radioactive material and revealing it was never more than a month away from enriching it on an enormous scale, it was also busy filing suit against the Trump administration at the International Court of Justice, alleging that pulling out of the JCPOA was a crime. </s> Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic's nuclear work.



The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington's withdrawal from the pact.





Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.The other signatories have been scrambling to save the accord, arguing it offers the best way to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb.Iran has said it will wait to see what the other powers can do, but has signaled it is ready to get its enrichment activities back on track. It has regularly said its nuclear work is just for electricity generation and other peaceful projects.Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the new factory did not in itself break the terms of the agreement.A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the organization is aware of the announcement but has "no comment.""Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it," Salehi, said, according to state media."Of course, the [Supreme Leader] was completely informed and we gave him the necessary information at the time. And now that he has given the order this factory has started all its work."The factory would have the capacity to build rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges per day, he added.Separately, Salehi said that Iran now had a stockpile of up to 950 tons of uranium. He said Iran had imported 550 tons of uranium before the nuclear agreement and had acquired approximately another 400 tons after the agreement was finalized, bringing the total stockpile to between 900 and 950 tons.Salehi did not specify where the additional 400 tons of uranium had come from.Last month, Salehi announced that Iran has begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility. </s> Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium and boosted its ability to enrich it to weapons grade, the head of its atomic agency admitted on Wednesday.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the regime had imported 550 tons of uranium before the 2015 agreement to curb its nuclear program. It had acquired about 400 tons more since then, bringing the total to between 900 and 950 tons.

Iran has also built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges a day for uranium enrichment, Salehi said.

The announcements came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium-enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal.

Under the agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other signatories have been scrambling to save the deal. Iran has said it will wait to see what they can do, but has signaled it is ready to put its enrichment activities back on track.

Salehi insisted the new factory did not break the terms of the agreement. “Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” he said.

Salehi said last month that Iran had begun working on infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility.

The announcements suggest that a nuclear bomb is on Iran’s agenda, Oubai Shahbandar, a Syrian-American analyst and fellow at the New America Foundation’s International Security Program, told Arab News

“Iran’s negotiating strategy here seems to be pegged to pressuring the EU to provide European businesses protection from complying with renewed US sanctions,” he said.

“IR-6 centrifuges are relatively complex and if Tehran moves forward with enhancing their capacity to mass-produce faster advanced centrifuges, they could easily establish a position to breakout quickly toward nuclear weapon production, if the decision is made.

“The capacity to build en masse more advanced centrifuges in the future doesn’t violate the deal itself, but it sends a strong political signal that nuclear weaponization could very well still be on the agenda in Tehran.”
Iran starts work at a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day.