DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran’s president on Wednesday called his country’s decision to dramatically increase its uranium enrichment after saboteurs attacked a nuclear site “an answer to your wickedness,” saying Israel hoped to let the ongoing talks go. derailments aimed at reviving Tehran’s tattered nuclear dealing with world powers.
This weekend’s sabotage at the Natanz nuclear facility appears to be part of an escalating shadow war between the two countries. The Israeli authorities have not responded to the attack, but are widely suspected to have carried it out.
Iran on Tuesday announced it would increase uranium enrichment to 60%, its highest level ever, in response to the attack. That could lead to further retaliation, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to let Tehran get hold of a nuclear weapon. While Iran’s move keeps enrichment below 90% of the gun count, it is a small step away.
Speaking to his cabinet, a passionate President Hassan Rouhani said the first-generation IR-1 centrifuges damaged in the attack would be replaced with advanced IR-6 centrifuges that enrich uranium much faster.
“You wanted to empty our hands during the talks, but our hands are full,” Rouhani said.
He referred to the ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at finding a way for the United States to re-join the Tehran nuclear accord and bring Iran back to its borders. The deal prevented Iran from having enough uranium supplies to pursue a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Rouhani added, “60% fortification is a response to your badness. … we cut both your hands, one with IR-6 centrifuges and another with 60%. “
Rouhani also accused Israel of being behind the attack in Natanz.
Apparently this is a crime committed by the Zionists. If the Zionists take action against our nation, we will respond, ”he said without elaborating.
In Jerusalem, Netanyahu appeared to be referring to Iran on a memorial day.
“We must never remain apathetic to the threat of war and the extermination of those who try to eliminate us,” he said.
Officials initially said the enrichment would begin on Wednesday. However, a tweet early Wednesday morning from Iran’s envoy to Kazem Gharibadadi, the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggested it could come later.
“Process change has just started and we expect to collect the product next week,” Gharibadadi wrote.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. An annual US intelligence report released Tuesday maintained the US assessment that “Iran is not currently engaged in the major nuclear weapons development activities that we believe are necessary to produce a nuclear device.”
The talks in Vienna aim to revive America’s role in the deal – and to lift the sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump after he unilaterally pulled America out of the deal in 2018. Rouhani insisted on Wednesday in his comment that Iran is still seeking a negotiated settlement for its program.
“The US should return to the same 2015 terms when we signed the nuclear deal,” Rouhani said.
Iran had previously said it could use up to 60% enriched uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic does not currently have such ships in its navy. The IAEA has confirmed that Iran has informed it of its plans to enrich up to 60%.
Iran had enriched up to 20% – and even that was a short technical step to a weapon quality level.
The weekend attack in Natanz was initially described only as a blackout in the power grid that powers above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls – but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the harsh head of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred in a state television interview to “several thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed”. However, no other official has offered that figure, and no images of the aftermath have been released.
Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.