Salehi: We can resume 20% enrichment within five days

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated that if Tehran decides, "we can start 20% enrichment at Fordow within a maximum of five days." Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview with the IRIB news agency that "the biggest priority of the Islamic Republic is to preserve the JCPOA." However, he added that "preserving the JCPOA will not be at any cost, and if we decide, we can start 20% enrichment at Fordow within a maximum of five days." Salehi also mentioned that there are "other predictions" but deemed them "not currently disclosable." Last week, President Hassan Rouhani warned in the Islamic Consultative Assembly that if U.S. officials want to speak to Iran with "the language of sanctions and imposition," Iran can certainly "return to a much more advanced situation than at the start of negotiations within a few days or hours." The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated that Rouhani's warning is not made in a vacuum and without backing. He clarified that "the necessary activities and preparations of the Atomic Energy Organization have been communicated to higher officials so that if they want to make a decision, they know what the conditions are." Iran and the P5+1 group, which includes 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 this agreement, Tehran agreed to halt many of its nuclear activities, especially the 20% uranium enrichment, in exchange for the lifting or reduction of international sanctions against it. Behrouz Bayat, a nuclear physics expert in Vienna, described Salehi's statements as "exaggeration" and stated: "While technically 20% enrichment is not impossible, it is not feasible in five days because the malfunctioning devices must be prepared for operation again, and a trial period must be completed before enrichment can begin. Such a task requires at least two years." Bayat assesses these statements as "a political claim for domestic consumption in Iran." Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, a journalist and analyst based in Germany, responded to Radio Farda's question about the political consequences of potential 20% enrichment, saying: "Any kind of enrichment at Fordow would mean a clear violation of the JCPOA by the Islamic Republic and a significant gift to the current U.S. administration." He added: "According to Articles 36 and 37 of the JCPOA, all pre-agreement sanctions will automatically be reinstated, and the gap between Europe and the U.S. will quickly close. Given Moscow's traditional positions on non-proliferation, Iran will also come under pressure from Russia, and the P5+1 front will unite against Iran again." This political analyst believes that "all the achievements of the JCPOA will be destroyed overnight, and Iran will once again slide into pressure and isolation. The return of the shadow of war over Iran is a given." Mahdavi Azad also considers the impact of such a decision on Iran's domestic politics to be a "major earthquake" that will cause "hardline conservatives to return from the margins to the center of politics, Rouhani's moderate diplomacy will effectively reach a dead end, the power of institutions like the Revolutionary Guards will significantly increase, and pressure on critical and reformist forces will rise again. Iran will rapidly revert to the conditions of 2012 in all areas, from foreign policy to economy and human rights." Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has described the Iran nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries as a "disaster" and has called for a review of it since taking office. In another part of his remarks, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization also reported on "British obstruction" in importing uranium from Kazakhstan and stated that Iran's membership in the international fusion project "ITER" has also been delayed, with "Americans obstructing" at the last moment, and the final signature has not yet been completed.