Salehi: We can resume 20% enrichment in four days

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced that if the Vienna nuclear agreement is disrupted, the Islamic Republic can resume 20% enrichment at the Fordow site within four days. Ali Akbar Salehi emphasized in an interview with the IRIB news agency on Sunday, April 8, that this claim is 'not exaggeration or rhetoric.' He also stated that the Islamic Republic has 'designed various scenarios for any eventuality.' Last August, Salehi had also mentioned that 'we can start 20% enrichment at Fordow within a maximum of five days.' However, Behrooz Bayat, a nuclear physics expert in Vienna, described Salehi's statements as 'hyperbole.' According to Bayat, while 20% enrichment is technically not impossible, it cannot be achieved in five days. He emphasized that malfunctioning devices need to be prepared for operation again and undergo a testing period, which would take at least two years. On Thursday, April 5, Salehi also threatened that the Islamic Republic would show a 'special thumb strike' to those who disrupt this agreement. On the same day, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, stressed the need to hold Iran accountable for its actions in the region, stating that the U.S. is negotiating with its European allies to amend the nuclear agreement with Iran. Donald Trump, the U.S. President, set a deadline in late January for addressing the deficiencies and flaws he identified in the JCPOA, threatening that without addressing these deficiencies, he would not extend the lifting of sanctions on Iran and would withdraw from the nuclear agreement. Trump's conditions for amending the JCPOA include making the restrictions in the JCPOA permanent, including Iran's missile activities in this agreement, comprehensive inspections by the agency of all Iranian facilities, and guarantees that Iran will not approach nuclear weapons, with his deadline for this matter ending on May 12, 2018. Iranian officials have rejected any revision of the nuclear agreement, and Russia has also stated through its foreign minister that any action to change the Vienna nuclear agreement would violate its provisions and the Security Council resolution endorsing this agreement. Iran and the P5+1 group, including the U.S., Russia, China, France, and the UK along with Germany, reached a comprehensive agreement in July 2015 to resolve Tehran's nuclear program, under which Tehran agreed to halt many of its nuclear activities, especially 20% uranium enrichment, in exchange for the lifting or reduction of international sanctions.