Iran is nearer to achieving the 90% uranium needed for atomic bomb – Kamalvandi

Iran allegedly expanded its nuclear enrichment after threatening to break the 2015 nuclear agreement in retaliation for U.S. sanctions.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said during a televised interview that the nation could attempt to enrich its uranium supply to 20 percent purity or more and restart earlier deactivated IR-2 M centrifuges that are used to purify uranium in the months ahead.
The Associated Press (AP) quoted power specialists as a warning that a 20% purity could take Iran nearer to achieving the 90% uranium needed to create a bomb.
“At the moment, our enrichment is at around 4.5 per cent,” Mr Kamalvandi told the AP in a separate interview.
The announcement has raised concerns over Iran’s commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Although President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal last year, other Western powers have decided to remain true to it and pledged that if it does not pull out, Iran would receive full assistance.
But the escalating tension with the U.S., leading to the June 20 downing of an American Navy drone, has contributed to the nuclear deal’s erratic execution. Mr Trump also reintroduced sanctions against Iran and tightened them up.
The unilateral sanctions struck the Iranian economy hard, decreasing petroleum exports, worsening inflation, and lowering the Iranian currency’s value by about 60%.
Iran had set a 60-day deadline for the European nations–Britain, France and Germany–that were part of the nuclear agreement to guarantee that they continued to trade with Iran and to ease the effect of the U.S. sanctions. Therefore, Iran decided to enrich uranium beyond the agreed limit and warned of an even greater “third move” to reduce its adherence.
Iran has “no hope nor trust in anyone nor any country,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told the AP. “But the door of diplomacy is open.”
Mr Trump advised Iran last week that he was not fully prepared to reveal his atomic threats for one reason.
He also repeated the long-standing stance of America that Iran will never be permitted to own or access a nuclear weapon.