Iran starts 20% uranium enrichment violating nuclear deal amid tensions with US: Report

Iran has reportedly begun enriching uranium to up to 20 percent purity, in violation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (JCPOA) framework. According to Associated Press, an Iranian official on Monday confirmed that President Hassan Rouhani has given the final nod for enriching uranium to up to 20% purity at the country's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which again is a violation of the nuclear deal because Tehran is not allowed to use the site for uranium production. 

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Iran violating deal since 2019

Last week, media reports emerged suggesting Iran had sent a letter to the United Nations nuclear watchdog saying it will soon begin enriching uranium to up to 20 percent purity. Although the purity level needed to produce nuclear weapons is 90%, way above Iran's announcement of enriching uranium to up to 20% purity, the decision has caused a stir among other signatories of the deal. Under the JCPOA deal, Iran is not allowed to enrich uranium with over 4% purity level. However, the Islamic Republic has been violating the deal since 2019 after the United States reimposed sanctions on Tehran. 

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After US President Donald Trump won the elections in 2016, he withdrew the United States from the Obama-era deal, calling it "rotten". The United States left the JCPOA in 2018 despite other members urging it not to do so. The US reimposed all sanctions on Iran, pushing Tehran to violate the deal because one of the key agreements of the deal was that all economic embargos against the Islamic Republic would be lifted and, in return, it will cap the enrichment purity level. 

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The cap on enrichment matters because it will extend the time needed to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran was already enriching uranium to up to 20 percent purity before the signing of the nuclear agreement with the US and other members of the UN Security Council, including Germany. As per BBC, Iran's parliament passed a bill last month after the assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and mandated the enrichment of uranium to up to 20% purity. It also blocked the inspection of its nuclear sites by IAEA officials. 

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