TEHRAN, Iran: The head of Iran’s nuclear program said on Monday that the country is now producing more low-enriched uranium daily, after restarting an underground lab.
Ali Akbar Salehi of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran made the comments as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also called on hard-liners to support the country’s troubled nuclear deal, saying it could open up international arms sales for the Islamic Republic next year.
Iran has broken out of the accord’s limits since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord between Tehran and world powers over a year ago.
Salehi said in Tehran that the country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms daily. That’s compared to what Tehran had been producing — about 450 grams of low-enriched uranium per day.
Salehi said that’s due in part to restarting enrichment at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility.
“I believe (that) in total, 5.5 kilograms is the daily volume of uranium enrichment in Natanz and Fordo,” Salehi told the AP, mentioning Iran’s other nuclear facility at Natanz.
Iran currently enriches uranium to up to 4.5 percent, far below weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
However, the more uranium it enriches over time will begin to narrow the so-called “breakout period” Iran would need to have enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb — should it choose to build one. Analysts had put that time at a year, under the restrictions of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, Western nations pushed for the nuclear deal over its concerns about the program.
Rouhani spoke on Monday in the city of Rafsanjan in Iran’s southwest Kerman province, as part of a provincial tour ahead of planned parliamentary elections in February. The day before, in Yazd, he faced some heckling from a crowd of hard-liners, despite announcing the discovery of a 53-billion-barrel oil field in the country.
On Monday, he made a point to stress that “by continuing the nuclear deal, we will reach a huge political, defensive and security goal.”
“If we save the nuclear deal, Iran’s arms embargo will be lifted and we can buy weapons or sell our weapons to the world. This is one of the deal’s significant impacts,” Rouhani said.
The end of the weapons embargo, imposed by the United Nations, already worries the Trump administration.
Under the terms of the deal, a United Nations-imposed arms embargo on Iran is slated to be lifted in October 2020, five years after the accord’s adoption.
However, it remains unclear whether the UN would allow the ban to be lifted, given the circumstances the crumbling deal finds itself in today.
Iran underground lab helps produce more low-enriched uranium
Iran underground lab helps produce more low-enriched uranium
- The country is now producing at least 5.5 kilograms of low-enriched uranium daily
- Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes
Indonesia ‘strongly rejects’ Trump’s Gaza plan
Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law
JAKARTA: Indonesia “strongly rejects” the proposal made by President Donald Trump for the United States to assume control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
Trump announced the stunning proposal Tuesday, without detailing his plans on how to move out nearly two million Palestinians from the enclave, claiming that the US will rebuild the territory and turn it into the “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has consistently called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Indonesia strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or alter the demographic composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on social media X, formerly Twitter.
Jakarta also called on the international community to respect international law, “particularly the right to self-determination of the Palestinians as well as their inalienable right to return to their homeland,” the ministry added.
Trump claimed there was support from the “highest leadership” in the Middle East and upped pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take displaced Palestinians — despite both countries flatly rejecting the idea.
Jakarta said addressing the “root cause” of the conflict, namely “the illegal and prolonged Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory,” was the only path to achieve a lasting peace in the region, the statement added.
Kuwaiti emir appoints new defense minister
- Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense
LONDON: Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah appointed a new defense minister to succeed Sheikh Fahad Youssef Saud Al-Sabah.
During the swearing-in ceremony at Bayan Palace on Tuesday, Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah took the oath as minister of defense.
Sheikh Fahad has assumed the position of first deputy prime minister and minister of interior following an emiri decree, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and other senior Kuwaiti officials attended the ceremony.
Deportation from occupied territory ‘strictly prohibited’: UN on Gaza
- “The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states,” Turk said
GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk insisted Wednesday that deporting people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited, after US President Donald Trump’s shock proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and resettle its people.
“The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states, as the International Court of Justice recently underlined afresh. Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited,” Turk said in a statement.
Iraq restoration work brought back Mosul’s ‘identity’: UNESCO chief
- The director-general of United Nations heritage body UNESCO hailed the completion of their restoration work in the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying on Wednesday it had allowed it to recover its “identity”
MOSUL: The director-general of United Nations heritage body UNESCO hailed the completion of their restoration work in the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying on Wednesday it had allowed it to recover its “identity” after destruction inflicted by the Daesh group.
Mosul’s historic Al-Nuri Mosque with its famed leaning minaret, nicknamed Al-Hadba or “hunchback,” has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Daesh group rule.
“I am very happy to stand before you and before the minaret over 850 years old... and the fact to have it here behind me in front of you is like history coming back... is like the identity of the city coming back,” Audrey Azoulay said.
The mosque and minaret were destroyed in June 2017 during the battle to oust IS from Mosul, and Iraq’s authorities accused the jihadists of planting explosives before their withdrawal.
They are the latest landmarks in Mosul to be restored by UNESCO, whose teams have worked for five years to revive several sites.
“The reconstruction of this minaret needed to reuse nearly 45,000 original bricks,” the UNESCO chief said, adding that traditional techniques were used to rebuild the iconic structure.
Azouley said residents had wanted the rebuilt minaret to resemble the original. “The people of Mosul wanted it tilted,” she said.
Eighty percent of Mosul’s old city was destroyed in the fight against IS.
UNESCO restoration project also include Al-Tahira and Our Lady of the Hour churches and 124 heritage houses.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani will inaugurate the restored landmarks in the coming weeks.
Egypt wants Palestinian Authority to ‘assume its duties’ in Gaza: FM
CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called on Wednesday for the Palestinian Authority to govern the Gaza Strip, hours after President Donald Trump announced a proposal for the United States to take over the territory.
In a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, Abdelatty said Egypt was eager for the Palestinian Authority to “assume its duties in the Gaza Strip as part of the occupied Palestinian territories,” according to a foreign ministry statement.
Abdelatty called for swift reconstruction of Gaza without the displacement of Palestinians from the territory after Trump’s proposal to take it over.
The two men agreed on “the importance of moving forward with early recovery projects... at an accelerated pace... without the Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip, especially with their commitment to their land and refusal to leave it,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
