Is Iran becoming a nuclear power?

After the US president Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the nuclear Iran Treaty and imposed draconian sanctions to Irán that have affected the economy and life of the country, the Persian (Iranian) leaders are moving fast into becoming a nuclear power. It may happen in a couple of years.

It is not a good development for the main regional iranian enemies: Israel and Saudi Arabia. If this process is not stopped we might be closer than ever to a nuclear conflagration in the Middle East.

5/11/19 news from Al Jazeera

“Under the nuclear deal signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, these centrifuges are supposed to spin without gas injection. Tehran has gradually reduced commitments made under the accord - including uranium stockpile and enrichment limits - since being hit with renewed US sanctions last year. 

Russia said on Tuesday it was concerned by Iran's latest move, adding it would like the deal to remain in place.

"We are monitoring the development of the situation with concern," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We support the preservation of this deal."

A spokeswoman for the European Commission expressed similar concern, adding that "it is increasingly difficult to preserve" the deal.

Iran has two vast enrichment sites, at Natanz and Fordow. Much of Natanz is deep underground and Fordow is buried inside a mountain, which is widely believed to protect them from aerial bombardment. Before the deal, Iran used Fordow to enrich uranium to 20 percent fissile purity.

"This announcement will be taken very seriously by the European Union, Russia and China, because of the sensitivity of Fordow and what it entails,"Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, a fellow at Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera. "So we will have to see if Iran went too far in trying to push the remaining parties or if the JCPOA stays alive or not," she added, referring to the deal's formal title.

'Possible to reverse'

Rouhani, in his address, said all of the steps Iran has taken so far are reversible and Tehran will uphold all of its commitments under the deal when the remaining signatories do the same. 

"We know their sensitivity with regard to Fordow. With regard to these centrifuges, we know. But at the same time when they uphold their commitments we will cut off the gas again ... So it is possible to reverse this step," the Iranian president said.

"We can't unilaterally accept that we completely fulfil our commitments and they don't follow up on their commitments."

Reference:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/iran-rouhani-announces-step-2015-nuclear-deal-191105074912547.html