TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s nuclear programme said on Sunday that the Isla­mic Republic has begun “preliminary activities for des­i­gning” a modern process for 20-per cent uranium enrichment for its 50-year-old research reactor in Teh­ran, signalling new danger for the nuclear deal.

Restarting enrichment at that level would mean Iran had withdrawn the 2015 nuc­lear deal it struck with world powers, an accord that Pres­ident Donald Trump already pulled America out of in May.

However, Ali Akbar Sal­ehi’s comments to state television appeared aimed at telling the world Iran would slowly restart its progra­m­me. If it chooses, it could resume mass enrichment at its main facility in the central Iranian town of Natanz.

“Preliminary activities for designing modern 20 per cent [enriched uranium] fuel have begun,” state TV quoted Salehi as saying.

Salehi said adding the “modern fuel” will increase efficiency in Tehran resea­rch reactor that consumes 20-per cent enriched fuel. “We are at the verge” of being ready, he said, without elaborating.

In June, Iran informed the UN’s nuclear watchdog that it will increase its nuclear enrichment capacity within the limits set by the 2015 agreement with world powers. Iran continues to comply with the terms of the deal, according to the UN, despite the American pullout.

Salehi heads the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, whose Tehran campus holds the nuclear research reactor given to the country by the US in 1967 under the rule of the shah. But in the time since that American “Atoms for Peace” donation, Iran was convulsed by its 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent takeover and hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran.

For decades since, Western nations have been concerned about Iran’s nuclear programme, accusing Tehran of seeking atomic weapons. Iran long has said its programme is for peaceful purposes, but it faced years of crippling sanctions.

The 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers, including the US under former US President Barack Obama, was aimed at relieving those fears. Under it, Iran agreed to store its exc­ess centrifuges at its underground Natanz enrichment facility under constant surveillance by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran can use 5,060 older-model IR-1 centrifuges at Natanz, but only to enrich uranium up to 3.67 per cent.

That low-level enrichment means the uranium can be used to fuel a civilian reactor but is far below the 90 per cent needed to produce a wea­pon. Iran also can possess no more than 300kgs (660 pou­nds) of that uranium. That’s compared to the 10,000kgs (22,046 pounds) of higher-enriched uranium it once had.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2019