Trump says Iran 'playing with fire' with uranium enrichment

[webfact]

Trump says Iran 'playing with fire' with uranium enrichment

By Parisa Hafezi and Francois Murphy

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump talks about the United States imposing fresh sanctions on Iran before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

DUBAI/VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran announced on Monday it had amassed more low-enriched uranium than permitted under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, drawing a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Tehran was "playing with fire."

 

Tehran's announcement marked its first major step beyond the terms of the pact since the United States pulled out of it more than a year ago. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the move was not a violation of the accord, arguing that Iran was exercising its right to respond to the U.S. walkout.

 

The step, however, could have far-reaching consequences for diplomacy at a time when European countries are trying to pull the United States and Iran back from confrontation. It comes less than two weeks after Trump said he ordered air strikes onIran, only to cancel them minutes before impact.

 

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported that the country's enriched uranium stockpile has now passed the 300-kg (661 lb) limit allowed under the deal.

 

Newly-imposed sanctions are expected to make life harder for ordinary Iranians and the country's younger generation are worrying about the future. Emily Wither reports.

 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitors Iran's nuclear programme under the deal, confirmed in Vienna that Tehran had breached the limit.

 

Trump, asked if he had a message for Iran, said: "No message to Iran. They know what they're doing. They know what they're playing with, and I think they're playing with fire. So, no message to Iran whatsoever."

 

The White House said earlier it would continue to apply "maximum pressure" on Iran "until its leaders alter their course of action." It also said Iran should be held to a standard barring all uranium enrichment.

 

However, there is no international standard prohibiting Iran from enriching uranium, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. "That is not the case. That is an American position," he said.

 

European powers, who remain party to the accord and have tried to keep it in place, urged Iran not to take further steps that would violate it. But they held off on declaring the agreement void or announcing sanctions of their own.

 

"We have NOT violated the #JCPOA," Zarif wrote on Twitter, referring to the deal by the acronym for its formal title, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

 

He referred to a paragraph of the accord which contains the mechanism for countries to resolve disputes over compliance.

 

"As soon as E3 abide by their obligations, we'll reverse," he said, referring to European powers Britain, Germany and France.Iran has demanded they guarantee it the access to world trade envisioned under the deal.

 

The move is a test of European diplomacy after French, British and German officials had promised a strong diplomatic response if Iran fundamentally breached the deal.

 

The Europeans, who opposed last year's decision by Trump to abandon the agreement had pleaded with Iran to keep within its parameters.

 

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Britain wants to preserve the pact "because we don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons. But if Iran breaks that deal then we are out of it as well."

 

Iran has said it aims to keep the accord in place but cannot abide by its terms indefinitely, as long as sanctions imposed by Trump have deprived it of the benefits it was meant to receive in return for accepting curbs on its nuclear programme.

 

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Such action by the Islamic Republic of Iran would not help preserve the plan, nor secure the tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people," and added that it should be resolved using the deal's mechanism.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the European countries should "stand behind their commitments" and impose sanctions on Iran.

 

"ECONOMIC WAR"

Iran said in May it would speed up production of enriched uranium in response to the Trump administration sharply tightening sanctions against it that month. Washington has now effectively ordered all countries to halt purchases ofIranian oil or face sanctions of their own, which Tehran calls "economic war" designed to starve its population.

 

In the two months since the sanctions were tightened, the confrontation has taken on a military dimension, with Washington blaming Tehran for attacks on oil tankers, and Iran shooting down a U.S. drone, prompting the aborted U.S. air strikes.

 

The nuclear deal imposes limits both on how much enriched uranium Iran can hold and on how pure its stocks can be, thresholds intended to lengthen the "breakout period" - the time Tehran would need to build a nuclear bomb if it sought one.

 

Zarif said Iran's next move would be to enrich uranium beyond the maximum 3.67% fissile purity allowed under the deal, a threshold Tehran has previously said it would cross on July 7.

 

Iran's moves so far appear to be a calculated test of the deal's enforcement mechanisms and the diplomatic response.

 

"This is not an irreversible step the Iranians have taken. Iran, with the remaining partners, can decide how they’re going to proceed.

 

There is a process in the JCPOA to try to cure breaches,” said Wendy Sherman, former President Barack Obama's lead U.S. negotiator on the deal and now director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School.

 

"This does not in and of itself reduce the breakout time period, which is essential here," she said.

 

The Europeans say they want to help Iran boost its economy. But so far European efforts to do so have failed, with Iranshunned on oil markets and major foreign companies abandoning plans to invest for fear of falling foul of U.S. rules.

 

David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector who consults with European officials on the Iran nuclear deal, said that while the EU3 are angry that Iran has broken the 300-kilogram ceiling, the violation is not serious enough for them to seek an immediate snapback of international sanctions.

 

They are watching, he said, for graver breaches that could indicate that Iran is returning to the nuclear weapons development track that the CIA and the International Atomic Energy Agency determined Tehran had abandoned in 2003. Irandenies it had such a programme.

 

"There will be a lot of noise, but not a lot of action on snapback," said Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank.

 

The confrontation has put the United States in the position of demanding that the Europeans ensure Iranian compliance with an agreement that Washington itself has rejected. Trump argues that the deal is too weak because some of its terms are not permanent, and because it does not cover non-nuclear issues such as Iran's ballistic missile programme and regional behaviour.

 

Washington says sanctions are aimed at pushing Tehran back to the negotiating table. Iran says it cannot talk as long as Washington is ignoring the deal that it signed.

 

Israel, which considers the Iranian nuclear programme an existential threat, has backed Trump's hard line, as have U.S. allies among the rich Arab states of the Gulf, which consider Iran a foe and benefit from having its oil kept off markets.

 

"Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by the Iranians becomes fissionable, at military enrichment grade, and then an actual bomb," Joseph Cohen, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, told a security conference.

 

(Additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh in Geneva, Lesley Wroughton, Jonathan Landay and Steve Holland in Washington; Jeffrey Heller and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, John Irish in Paris and Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan in London; Writing by Peter Graff and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Alistair Bell and James Dalgleish)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-02

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[ezzra]

As long as leaders such Trump and Netanyahu and others who knows what Iran's intentions are are in power, Iran WILL NOT have weaponized nukes, period...

[neeray]

Iran will be in conference with North Korea and having a great laugh as they pick out pages from the Kim play book and ROTFL. They will discuss the latest events (or is that the latest reversals?).

 

But seriously, I doubt this Iranian breach will lead to anything too volatile. It seems that there is always a back door left open.

[Lungstib]

I'm always amazed at how the countries with atomic power defend their position, suggest that the atom bombs actually keep the peace, but then deny other countries the same chance to "keep the peace". If you wont give them up expecting other not to want them is very hypocritical.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by the Iranians becomes fissionable,

Yes, they will become just like the US, Israel, France, Britain, Russia, Pakistan, India. What a childish game this power politics becomes.

[Tug]

What did you expect Donald you not Iran broke the agreement meanwhile you are over at the d m z making nice with little Kim just bizarre and pathetic 

[legend49]

"playing with fire."

 

His key word all the time; playing. All kids know how to play but one day they grow up to be adults.

[user68677878]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

As long as leaders such Trump and Netanyahu and others who knows what Iran's intentions are are in power, Iran WILL NOT have weaponized nukes, period...

As long as we have leaders like you favour the threat of destabilisation will always exist

[Farangwithaplan]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

As long as leaders such Trump and Netanyahu and others who knows what Iran's intentions are are in power, Iran WILL NOT have weaponized nukes, period...

You do realise that writing some words in capitals does not make your point any more valid, don't you? People can read and comprehend without words being capitalised.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Farangwithaplan

[ezzra]

44 minutes ago, porphyry said:

As long as we have leaders like you favour the threat of destabilisation will always exist

Said leaders keep mad men and rouge countries at bay, Iran is NOT a 'nice' country who wants to acquire nukes for peaceful purposes, just look at their nefarious proxy activities in Lebanon, Syria, Iraqe, Yeman, Gaza, Sinai desert arming, training and pouring billions in financing countries, militia and terrorist groups for the sole purpose to again, be this great Persian empire dominating the region, still many believed Iran is a peaceful country, far from it, and in the rush to do business in Iran they all throw caution to the wind, Business first, Nukes later...

Edited July 2, 2019 by ezzra

[ezzra]

6 minutes ago, Farangwithaplan said:

You do realise that writing some words in capitals does not make your point any more valid, don't you? People can read without words being capitalised.

Thanks for reading my posts, hey, you write using your style and i'll write using mine, you'd be surprised what people read and don't read on TV, been here long enough to know that...

[Tug]

19 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Said leaders keep mad men and rouge countries at bay, Iran is NOT a 'nice' country who wants to acquire nukes for peaceful purposes, just look at their nefarious proxy activities in Lebanon, Syria, Iraqe, Yeman, Gaza, Sinai desert arming, training and pouring billions in financing countries, militia and terrorist groups for the sole purpose to again, be this great Persian empire dominating the region, still many believed Iran is a peaceful country, far from it, and in the rush to do business in Iran they all throw caution to the wind, Business first, Nukes later...

Ezra I agree with you the irianian gov are bad actors and not to be trusted but Donald broke the agreement they were abiding by me while he is kissing up to little Kim and trying to get nuclear technology to the Saudis you know the whabi the most extreme of the Muslim that sir gets the alarm bells going in my head big time

[bristolboy]

28 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Said leaders keep mad men and rouge countries at bay, Iran is NOT a 'nice' country who wants to acquire nukes for peaceful purposes, just look at their nefarious proxy activities in Lebanon, Syria, Iraqe, Yeman, Gaza, Sinai desert arming, training and pouring billions in financing countries, militia and terrorist groups for the sole purpose to again, be this great Persian empire dominating the region, still many believed Iran is a peaceful country, far from it, and in the rush to do business in Iran they all throw caution to the wind, Business first, Nukes later...

Because Iran is the only player doing such things there? Saudis, UAE, and Qataris aren't meddling in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, etc..? Saudi Arabia is headed by an obvious psychopath and megalomaniac. 

Edited July 2, 2019 by bristolboy

[Lungstib]

32 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Iran is NOT a 'nice' country who wants to acquire nukes for peaceful purposes, just look at their nefarious proxy activities in Lebanon, Syria, Iraqe, Yeman, Gaza, Sinai desert arming, training and pouring billions in financing countries, militia and terrorist groups

Now open the other eye. The US has not only been the only country to drop a nuclear bomb but its activities span the globe and have recently started major wars in 3 countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya). Iran's activities pale in comparison. There are many in this world who consider the US to be 'not a nice country' but you always conveniently ignore this truth.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Lungstib
addition

[zydeco]

Empty words. Empty threats. Empty suit. Biggest waffler since iHop.

[Tug]

31 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

Now open the other eye. The US has not only been the only country to drop a nuclear bomb but its activities span the globe and have recently started major wars in 3 countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya). Iran's activities pale in comparison. There are many in this world who consider the US to be 'not a nice country' but you always conveniently ignore this truth.

The people controlling Afghanistan did the World Trade Center you don’t turn the other cheek when that happens as for Libya I know we supported getting rid of gadiffy wasent aware we had an active army boots on the ground as you imply 

[Morch]

Quote

"As soon as E3 abide by their obligations, we'll reverse," he said, referring to European powers Britain, Germany and France.Iran has demanded they guarantee it the access to world trade envisioned under the deal.

 

I don't know that there were any such "obligations". Not concrete ones, anyway, other than lifting sanctions. It would seem unlikely European governments have the power to order firms to do business with Iran.

 

Quote

Iran has said it aims to keep the accord in place but cannot abide by its terms indefinitely, as long as sanctions imposed by Trump have deprived it of the benefits it was meant to receive in return for accepting curbs on its nuclear programme.

 

That's a cute way of putting things. For the record, though, Iran was found to be in breach of international obligations with regard to nuclear proliferation. Presenting it as if Iran is doing something exceptional by "accepting" terms is nonsense. 

 

Quote

Iran's moves so far appear to be a calculated test of the deal's enforcement mechanisms and the diplomatic response.

 

Indeed. Hence, "playing with fire" applies.

[Morch]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

As long as leaders such Trump and Netanyahu and others who knows what Iran's intentions are are in power, Iran WILL NOT have weaponized nukes, period...

 

That's your opinion, and that's they're narrative. Neither of them is much given to a principled approach when matters relate to personal political survival, though.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, Lungstib said:

I'm always amazed at how the countries with atomic power defend their position, suggest that the atom bombs actually keep the peace, but then deny other countries the same chance to "keep the peace". If you wont give them up expecting other not to want them is very hypocritical.

Yes, they will become just like the US, Israel, France, Britain, Russia, Pakistan, India. What a childish game this power politics becomes.

 

Where was it suggested (in context), that nuclear bombs "keep the peace"?

[brokenbone]

ultimately, only nukes with reliable delivery system can ensure

USA & israel wont attack iran

[Pedrogaz]

High time people lived up to their agreements....why should Iran live up to theirs when they were promised sanctions relief and ended up with even stricter sanctions when the IAEA agreed they had fulfilled their agreements. 

 

The EU are totally spineless in the face of US aggression....sitting nice and quietly, waiting for this moment so they can support the US because 'the Iranians didn't live by the agreement".

The agreement ended when the US pulled out and the EU supported them by stopping trading with Iran. Had they kept trading and told the US to go to hell they could have destroyed the US position and set ups real alternative to SWIFT (which the US use to monitor sanctions).

 

Persnally I would like to see the Iranians launder their oil through Turkey, Iraq and Russia... ie that shoe states buy Iranian oil in local currencies and then resell it as locally produced as the Turks did with Isis oil.

 

[Morch]

24 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

High time people lived up to their agreements....why should Iran live up to theirs when they were promised sanctions relief and ended up with even stricter sanctions when the IAEA agreed they had fulfilled their agreements. 

 

The EU are totally spineless in the face of US aggression....sitting nice and quietly, waiting for this moment so they can support the US because 'the Iranians didn't live by the agreement".

The agreement ended when the US pulled out and the EU supported them by stopping trading with Iran. Had they kept trading and told the US to go to hell they could have destroyed the US position and set ups real alternative to SWIFT (which the US use to monitor sanctions).

 

Persnally I would like to see the Iranians launder their oil through Turkey, Iraq and Russia... ie that shoe states buy Iranian oil in local currencies and then resell it as locally produced as the Turks did with Isis oil.

 

 

High times posters stop imagining things included in agreements or promised. Or for that matter, realize that Iran's obligations (and breach of) related to these matters did not start with the JCPOA.

 

The sanctions are laid out by the USA, who withdrew from the agreement. The other signatories did not lay any sanctions, and I doubt the terms of the agreement compel them to either trade with Iran or go against USA sanctions.

 

If, given conditions, Iran wished to withdraw from the agreement or to fully breach it, this would trigger consequences. If Iran wishes to stay within the parameters of the agreement, it needs to comply with the terms.

 

Your confidence that the Europeans could have withstood or even undo the USA sanctions is neither supported by anything, nor reflects the European (government and corporate) take. Doubt that other than fulfilling your political fantasies it could be said to be a beneficial move as far as Europe is concerned.

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

It also said Iran should be held to a standard barring all uranium enrichment.

Not in the G5+1 nuclear deal.

This is a made up U.S. standard.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

But if Iran breaks that deal then we are out of it as well."

UK supports the Trump ban on sale of Iran oil that violated the nuclear deal. So already out of the deal.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"As soon as E3 abide by their obligations, we'll reverse," he said, referring to European powers Britain, Germany and France. Iran has demanded they guarantee it the access to world trade envisioned under the deal.

the nuclear arm's race

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"Just imagine what will happen if the material stockpiled by the Iranians becomes fissionable, at military enrichment grade, and then an actual bomb," Joseph Cohen, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency

The U.S. is assisting the Saudi Arabia Kingdom in nuclear technology as S.A. buys long range missiles, regardless of any freeze or expansion of Iran's nuclear program. Imagine the effect of that on Middle East security Cohen while he imagines the nuclear capability of Israel.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

 

If, given conditions, Iran wished to withdraw from the agreement or to fully breach it, this would trigger consequences. If Iran wishes to stay within the parameters of the agreement, it needs to comply with the terms.

 

Your confidence that the Europeans could have withstood or even undo the USA sanctions is neither supported by anything, nor reflects the European (government and corporate) take. Doubt that other than fulfilling your political fantasies it could be said to be a beneficial move as far as Europe is concerned.

I see that you haven't been following the news lately. The remaining signatories to the agreement have shown absolutely no indication to hold Iran responsible for violating the agreement. They understand why it happened and who is responsible.

And they are now in the process of creating an alternate payment that the US can't interfere with. In fact it's been completed. It's still in its early days but even the UK stands firmly behind it.

 

EU powers resist calls for Iran sanctions after breach of nuclear deal

Focus is on averting further breaches and UK says it remains committed to 2015 deal

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/01/eu-powers-resist-calls-for-iran-sanctions-after-breach-of-nuclear-deal

[PETERTHEEATER]

Trump says Iran 'playing with fire' with uranium enrichment

 

No sweat, the radiation will get them first.