Los Angeles Times - 08.09.2019

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THE WORLD

TEHRAN — In a move
that analysts said is aimed
at amping up the pressure
on European powers to sal-
vage the landmark 2015 nu-
clear treaty and ease the im-
pact of U.S. economic sanc-
tions that accompanied
President Trump’s with-
drawal from the interna-
tional accord, a senior Irani-
an government official an-
nounced Saturday that Iran
would speed up its uranium
enrichment activities. The
action marked the third and
most serious move by Iran to
back off from the agreement
signed by seven nations.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a
spokesman for Iran’s Atom-
ic Energy Organization, said
the Islamic Republic has ac-
tivated a chain of advanced
centrifuges and added that
European signatories of the
deal — Britain, Germany
and France — need to
quickly back up a promise to
secure financial relief from
the 2018 U.S. sanctions.
“These steps are revers-
ible if the other side fulfills its
promises,” Kamalvandi said
at a news conference broad-
cast by Iran’s state televi-
sion.
American and Iranian
analysts said Tehran is seek-
ing to counter Trump’s
economic pressure cam-
paign, which has crippled
Iran’s economy.
“We are still far from a
scenario where they would
rush to make a bomb
quickly,” said Ariane
Tabatabai, an associate po-
litical scientist at the Rand
Corp. think tank in Wash-
ington, “but the Europeans
have been unable to deliver

what Iranians want because

their efforts are stymied by

the U.S.”

Kamalvandi said that the

Atomic Energy Organiza-

tion of Iran has begun using

20 IR-6 centrifuges and

an additional 20 IR-4 centri-

fuges, accelerating the coun-

try’s ability to increase

its stockpile of enriched

uranium on an industrial

scale.

Doing so, experts said,

reduces the amount of time

needed for Tehran to stock-

pile the fissile material

needed to build a nuclear

weapon — if authorities

chose to do so. For years, Ira-

nian officials have said they

have no intention of building

a nuclear weapon and that

their nuclear program is

peaceful.

Although the signatories

of the nuclear deal — also in-

cluding China and Russia —

have largely upheld their

side of the agreement,

Trump’s withdrawal from

the treaty and imposition of

“secondary sanctions” have

made it difficult for Western

signatories to help ease the

financial impact.

Trump withdrew from

the deal in May 2018, despite

the ongoing conclusions of

U.N. inspectors that Tehran

was complying with the ac-

cord meant to keep it from

developing the capacity to

build nuclear weapons.

Trump claims the accord

is a “disastrous one-sided

deal” and said it hasn’t

stopped Iran from engaging

in “malign activity.”

Administration officials

contend that their so-called

maximum-pressure cam-

paign is working and will

force Iran back to the negoti-

ating table in order to agree

to heavier monitoring of its

nuclear activities, remove

clauses in the accord that

would lift limits on Tehran’s

ability to enrich uranium in

several years, and curb

Iran’s military power and its

support of militant groups

in the Middle East.

Iran began backing away

from the nuclear deal in May

when President Hassan

Rouhani announced on na-

tional TV that the country

would allow its stockpile of

low-enriched uranium to

surpass a 660-pound limit.

Rouhani added that

Tehran would reduce its

commitments every 60 days

unless the Western signato-

ries helped protect Iran from

U.S. sanctions against sales

of oil — the country’s main

source of income — which

have fallen 80%.

As European leaders

scrambled to work out a

deal, Iranian authorities an-

nounced in July that the

country would violate the

accord for a second time by

producing uranium at a 5%

enrichment level.

(Under the agreement,

Iran is allowed to stockpile

no more than 660 pounds,

with a less than 4% concen-

tration of U-235.)

European efforts to save

the deal have been stymied

by the severe U.S. restric-

tions on Iran’s banking and

financial institutions, which

have made it difficult for the

international community to

do business with Iran.

France has nonetheless

stepped up efforts, but min-

imal progress has been re-

ported.

At the Group of 7 econo-

mic summit in France last

month, Trump and other

leaders set off speculation

that the U.S. was planning a

presidential summit with

Iran. But Rouhani sug-

gested the next day that

such a meeting would be

pointless unless the U.S.

first lifted sanctions.

Tabatabai said that while

Iranian authorities under-

stand that the status quo

isn’t sustainable, its incre-

mental steps of backing

away from the deal helps

Tehran buy time before up-

coming parliamentary elec-

tions and the U.S. presi-

dential election.

“There is an understand-

ing that Trump may be

elected ... then they will have

to negotiate with Trump,

but if not Iran will have lever-

age with a Democrat in of-

fice,” Tabatabai said. “Iran

has limited tools it can play

with and that’s why it has

taken more minor incremen-

tal steps.”

Iran’s most recent breach

of the nuclear deal came as

European leaders mull over

an initiative suggested by

France that would grant

Iran a $15-billion credit line.

Iranian government spokes-

man Ali Rabiee told report-

ers that negotiations have

resulted in progress, but

there’s still a long road

ahead.

Tabatabai said Europe’s

efforts have also been made

difficult because the Trump

administration believes pro-

viding Tehran with an econ-

omic lifeline would under-

mine its pressure.

Other analysts said

Iran’s strategy runs the risk

of backfiring.

Feraydoune Majlesi, an

analyst based in Tehran,

said he worried that Iran’s

diminishing commitment to

the nuclear accord is coun-

terproductive because its

rhetoric could push Europe-

an leaders toward the side of

the U.S.

“In diplomacy we must

give and take. Iran is threat-

ening and using ultima-

tums,” Majlesi said, adding

that “the step-by-step di-

minishing of the commit-

ment of the nuclear deal is

not serving the national in-

terests of Iran.”

Special correspondent

Mostaghim reported from

Tehran and staff writer

Etehad from Los Angeles.

Iran plans to speed uranium enrichment

It’s the country’s most

serious move so far

to back down from

the nuclear accord.

IRANIAN PRESIDENTHassan Rouhani, right, shown with chief of Iran’s nuclear technology organization

Ali Akbar Salehi, has been pressing European powers to help secure financial relief from U.S. sanctions.

Iranian Presidency

By Ramin Mostaghim
and Melissa Etehad