Rouhani Says Iran Will Begin Enriching Uranium at Higher Level in Days – The New York Times

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the team that negotiated the 2015 deal, told reporters in New York on Thursday that the restarting of uranium enrichment was meant in part as a message to the Europeans.

“If U.S. is out and Europeans are not in a position to compensate what we are losing, that means that the deal is not working,” Mr. Takht-Ravanchi said. “We have been telling friends in Europe that the deal is tarnished after U.S. withdrawal and we told them, ‘you need to fix it.’”

“We cannot continue with the way the deal has been treated,” he added.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Mr. Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would begin enriching uranium to higher levels “in any amount that we want, any amount that is required.” It would no longer heed the limits set by the deal, which was sealed with a resolution of the United Nations Security Council.

“Our advice to Europe and the United States is to go back to logic and to the negotiating table,” Mr. Rouhani said. “Go back to understanding, to respecting the law and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Under those conditions, all of us can abide by the nuclear deal.”

Mr. Rouhani added that Iran would also start taking steps on Sunday to restart its Arak nuclear reactor, which could eventually be used to produce plutonium and provide an alternate path to a nuclear bomb.

Under the 2015 accord, Iran had said that it removed the core of the reactor and filled it with cement. But if the United States and the other signatories do not provide the sanctions relief they had promised, Mr. Rouhani said, Iran will return the Arak reactor to “the condition that you say is dangerous and can produce plutonium.”

“We will return to that unless you take action regarding all your commitments,” he said.

After Iran exceeded the limits for low-enriched uranium, top diplomats from the European Union, Britain, France and Germany warned in a statement on Tuesday that they were “extremely concerned” and that “our commitment to the nuclear deal depends on full compliance with Iran.”