Earlier in the day, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said that Iran had started enriching uranium to 20 per cent at the Fordow nuclear facility.
“Iran’s decision to continue violating its commitments, to raise the enrichment level & advance the industrial ability to enrich uranium underground, can’t be explained in any way except as continued realisation of its intention to develop a military nuclear program. Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said on Twitter.
In December, Iran passed a law to increase its uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of its nuclear sites in response to the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Tehran accused Tel Aviv of being involved in the assassination of the scientist.
The law also prescribes the use of new generation centrifuges within the next three months, including 1,000 IR-2M centrifuges and at least 174 IR-6 centrifuges with the outlook to increase their number to 1,000 by the year-end.
At the same time, the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015, only prescribes the use of the first generation IR-1 centrifuges and uranium enrichment at the level of 3.67 per cent.
In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the EU.
It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal’s adoption.
In 2018, the U.S. abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran. (Sputnik/NAN)
