The Wall Street Journal - 04.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Wednesday, March 4, 2020 |A

WORLD NEWS

Tehran’s Enriched

Uranium Tops Limit

it has ever amassed.

President Reuven Rivlin will

begin talks with the rival party

leaders once the official vote is

completed, and ask one of

them to try to form a govern-

ment. Whoever he chooses has

six weeks to do so.

If Mr. Netanyahu emerges

victorious, it would be a stun-

ning political victory, bolster-

ing his popular image after he

became Israel’s longest-serv-

ing leader last year. It might

also boost his public standing

as he fights indictments on

charges of bribery, fraud and

breach of trust. Mr. Netanyahu

has denied any wrongdoing

ahead of the trial, which be-

gins March 17.

If he evades the legal and po-

litical obstacles before him, Mr.

Netanyahu will be able to begin

making good on his promise to

annex territory in the West

Bank, as outlined in the Trump

administration’s peace plan.

TEL AVIV—Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu retained
a lead against his rival as
votes were nearly fully
counted in Israel’s third par-
liamentary elections in a year,
but he is again on track to fall
short of the majority he needs
to form a new ruling coalition.
With about 92% of the
votes counted as of Tuesday
evening, Mr. Netanyahu’s
right-wing Likud party ap-
peared to have won 36 seats,
according to calculations by
Israeli broadcasters. Taken to-
gether with the seats secured
by his coalition partners, his
bloc had secured 59 seats,
leaving him two shy of the 61-
seat majority in the Knesset
needed to form a government.
The final count is expected to
be released on Wednesday, and
then consultations begin on who
has enough of a mandate to as-
semble a new government. If
the current results hold, Mr. Ne-
tanyahu is on track to get first
chance at forming a new ruling
coalition, but it remains unclear
whether he will be able to suc-
ceed after failing after elections
in April and September.
Meanwhile, the Blue and
White, the centrist party
headed Mr. Netanyahu’s rival,
Benny Gantz, had 32 seats, ac-
cording to the latest count. To-
gether with his allies in the
center-left he has 39 seats and
if the Arab parties support him,
he would command the backing
of 54 votes in parliament.
The projections suggest the
vote could raise the specter of
a potential fourth election.
The size of the rival blocs
ebbed and flowed after polls
closed on Monday evening. De-
spite surveys indicating voter
fatigue, the turnout was the
highest of the three elections
held in Israel this past year,
with 71% of eligible voters cast-
ing ballots. The turnout among
Arab Israeli voters was pre-
dicted to be the highest since
1999, reaching around 65%. The
Joint List, a collection of Arab
parties, is projected to be the
third-largest voting bloc in the
Knesset, with 15 seats, the most

BYFELICIASCHWARTZ

Netanyahu Leads Israel Vote,

But Majority Appears Elusive

significantly below that level.

Raising the purity of nuclear

material becomes easier the

higher you get.

Senior U.S. officials have de-

clined to spell out U.S. esti-

mates of Iran’s “breakout time,”

saying they are classified.

Some experts say Iran’s

growing stockpile of enriched

uranium is an indication that

the Trump administration’s

maximum pressure campaign

is backfiring.

In a December appearance

before the Council on Foreign

Relations, Brian Hook, the se-

nior U.S. envoy for Iran policy,

countered that the U.S. sanc-

tions may eventually drive

Iran to accept more stringent

nuclear limits.

“Prior to the Iran nuclear

deal, the U.N. Security Council

had prohibited Iran from en-

richment,” Mr. Hook said.

“That is the policy that we

have to restore.”

Nuclear enrichment isn’t

the only area in which Iran has

continued to defy the Trump

administration. In November

and February, the U.S. military

intercepted shipments of sur-

face-to-air missiles, which it

said were being sent from Iran

to Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Iran also fired ballistic mis-

siles at U.S. troops in Iraq in

January, weapons that West-

ern diplomats said Tehran has

made more sophisticated.

Iran started to scale up its

nuclear activities last July, 14

months after the Trump ad-

ministration quit the 2015 ac-

cord and started reimposing

sanctions on Tehran.

Iran has refrained from re-

storing and operating thou-

sands of shelved centrifuges,

machines for enriching ura-

nium, although it has restored

some and is producing enriched

uranium at its fastest rate since

the accord was signed.

Iran could quickly acceler-

ate its nuclear efforts, includ-

ing by enriching uranium up

to 20% purity and then to

weapons-grade levels, poten-

tially causing a crisis ahead of

the U.S. presidential election.

Iran has nearly tripled its
stockpile of enriched uranium
since early November, the
United Nations’ atomic agency
said, prompting warnings from
experts and diplomats that
Tehran has slashed the time it
would need to amass enough
fuel for a nuclear weapon.

Iran’s growing stockpile of
enriched uranium may pose a
major test for President
Trump ahead of the U.S. presi-
dential election in November.
Mr. Trump has vowed to pre-
vent Iran from obtaining a nu-
clear weapon. His administra-
tion has imposed sanctions to
press Tehran to stop all en-
richment of nuclear material
and halt its support for mili-
tant groups in the Middle East.
When the nuclear agree-
ment between Iran and six
world powers took effect in
January 2016, U.S. officials es-
timated that it would take at
least a year for Iran to pro-
duce sufficient enriched ura-
nium for a single nuclear
weapon if it broke out of the
agreement.
After the Trump administra-
tion quit the accord in May
2018 and Iran stopped adher-
ing to key limits last summer,
that “breakout time” has sub-
stantially shrunk and could
now be as little as four months,
one prominent expert said.
Iran says its program is for
peaceful, civilian purposes.
The deal imposed strict but
temporary limits on Iran’s nu-
clear-enrichment activities in
return for the suspension of
most international sanctions.
The IAEA said Tuesday that
Iran’s stockpile of enriched
uranium had grown to 1,021 ki-
lograms as of Feb. 19, up from
372 kilograms on Nov. 3, far
above the 202.8 kilograms al-
lowed under the 2015 accord.
The material was enriched
as high as 4.5% purity, al-
though about half of it was

TEHRAN—Iran is temporar-

ily releasing tens of thousands

of prisoners in an attempt to

prevent the spread of the cor-

onavirus in the country’s

crowded prisons, as it strug-

gles to contain one of the

worst outbreaks of a disease

that has killed dozens of peo-

ple and infected 23 lawmakers.

More than 54,000 prisoners

have gone out on furlough af-

ter testing negative for the vi-

rus, judiciary spokesman Gho-

lamhossein Esmaili said on

Tuesday. He indicated that

several prominent Iranian po-

litical prisoners and British

dual national Nazanin Zaghari-

Ratcliffe would be allowed out.

Iran has ramped up efforts

to contain the virus in recent

days after accusations it was

seeking to hide the extent of

the outbreak. As it widens a

screening campaign, the num-

ber of confirmed cases has

jumped sharply, with a 56% in-

crease to 2,336 on Tuesday

ByLaurence Norman

in Vienna and

Michael R. Gordonin

Washington

from a day earlier, Health Min-

ister Saeed Namaki said.

Mr. Namaki, whose deputy

is among a score of officials to

have contracted the virus, said

it had claimed 11 more lives

since Monday, bringing the

death toll to 77—the highest in

the world outside China.

Parliament sessions have

been suspended after 23 out of

290 lawmakers fell ill with the

virus, deputy speaker Abdolreza

Mesri was quoted as saying by

the Young Journalists Club. “We

advise deputies to cut their con-

tact with people,” he said. The

head of Iran’s emergency ser-

vices has also tested positive,

spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi

told the Fars news agency,

along with two officials on the

country’s medical council.

It wasn’t clear whether the

dead include any people in

prisons, which have emerged as

a flashpoint for transmission in

other countries such as China.

Iran’s prison population

stood at about 240,000 in

mid-2019, a social affairs offi-

cial said.

Prisoners with long sen-

tences or those deemed dan-

gerous to the public aren’t

among those released, and

some of those who were freed

had to pay large sums in bail.

Citing the judiciary spokes-

man, Iran’s ambassador to the

U.K. said Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

who is serving a five-year sen-

tence for her conviction on

what U.K. officials say are

trumped-up charges of spying,

is healthy and would be

granted furlough on Tuesday

or Wednesday to join her fam-

ily in Tehran. Her family had

earlier said Ms. Zaghari-Ratc-

liffe was unwell and had likely

contracted the coronavirus.

It isn’t clear whether three

Iranian-Americans who are be-

ing held will be granted fur-

lough as well. Lawyer Jared

Genser, who represents Ira-

nian-American Siamak Namazi,

said Mr. Namazi was at risk of

contracting the virus after a

fellow prisoner on his ward in

Evin Prison tested positive.

“Many other sick prisoners

who have asked to be tested for

coronavirus have had those re-

quests denied,” Mr. Genser said,

describing medical facilities

within the prison as rudimen-

tary. He said prisoners had been

locked down since Monday in

their cells, which each hold at

least 10 to 20 people. Until then,

they were allowed to circulate

within their wards and eat

meals together, as well as con-

gregate in the library, exercise

facilities and a television lounge.

Iranian authorities couldn’t

be reached for comment.

Even with prisoners con-

fined to their cells, the risk of

transmission remains high be-

cause they must pass through

a common hallway to use the

restroom.

BYARESUEQBALI

ANDISABELCOLES

Iran Frees Inmates to Ease Risk

Health authorities checked temperatures and disinfected hands of shoppers at northern Tehran’s Palladium Shopping Center on Tuesday.

VAHID SALEMI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The threat of virus

transmission is high

even with prisoners

confined to cells.

622 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA • 877-677-2801 • [email protected] • msrau.com

Since 1912, M.S. Rau has specialized in the world’s finest art, antiques and jewelry.

Backed by our unprecedented 125% Guarantee, we stand behind each and every piece.

Exquisite artistry. Vibrant color.

Spirited beauty.This original oil,

which captures a Venetian woman

duringthecourseofherchores,

illustratestheexceptionaltalentof

AustrianpainterEugenvonBlaas.

Though academically trained in the

greatestartisticcentersofEurope,

his affinity for the common people

ofhisbelovedVenicemadevon

Blaasoneofthegreatestpaintersof

his generation. Signed (lower right).

Circa1920.Canvas:30^3 / 4 ”hx16^1 / 4 ”w;

Frame:43”hx28^3 / 4 ”w.#31-

Venetian Beauty

Eugen von Blaas

RATES VALID THROUGH

APRIL 30, 2020