Iran has resumed enriching uranium to 20% purity, in its most significant breach yet of its 2015 deal with world powers to end nuclear sanctions.
The enrichment process at Fordow, an underground facility near the holy city of Qom, began earlier Monday, government spokesman Ali Rabie said. He said Iran had notified the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.
Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, which restricted the size and purity of Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile, Tehran is banned from enriching uranium at the Fordow site or even bringing uranium there for 15 years from the start of the accord.
Iran began ramping up its nuclear activities after the Trump administration withdrew in 2018 from the agreement, which curbed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for major sanctions relief.
Trump then began reimposing crippling sanctions. In response, Iran said it would progressively abandon some elements of the nuclear deal, notably the limits on the purity and size of its enriched-uranium stockpile, although it has maintained its commitment in the deal that it will not build or acquire nuclear arms.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had ordered the move because he was "bound" by a new law requiring the production and storage of at least 120kg (265lbs) of 20%-enriched uranium annually for peaceful purposes, he said.
Iran's parliament passed the law following the assassination in late November of the country's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which Iranian leaders blamed on Israel.
In a separate development, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf "due to the repeated infringement of maritime environmental laws".
South Korea's foreign ministry demanded its immediate release of the Hankuk Chemi and said a South Korean anti-piracy unit stationed in the Strait of Hormuz had been dispatched to the area.
Some experts see the announcement as an attempt to put pressure on Joe Biden, who is due to succeed Mr Trump as president on 20 January.
Mr Biden has said he will consider rejoining the nuclear deal so long as Iran returns to full compliance and commits to further negotiations.
The state department spokesperson said: "Iran enriching uranium to 20% at Fordow is a clear attempt to increase its campaign of nuclear extortion, an attempt that will continue to fail."
EU spokesman Peter Stano said Iran's move constituted "a considerable departure from Iran's nuclear commitments under the JCPOA with serious nuclear non-proliferation implications".
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, one of Iran's main opponents in the Middle East, said the Iranian decision could not be "explained in any way except as continued realization of its intention to develop a military nuclear program". "Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons," he added.
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