Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Confirms Halt in Centrifuge Collection

A few days after conservative representatives protested to Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, regarding the collection of centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow sites, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council announced on Tuesday, November 10, that this process has been halted with a "warning." Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, had stated on November 2 to the Japanese news agency Kyodo that Iran had begun implementing the nuclear agreement by collecting some of its centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facilities. This announcement led to protests from 20 members of parliament who called for the cessation of the order to collect centrifuges from Fordow and Natanz. Now, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has stated that this process has been stopped. According to ISNA news agency, a reporter at a press festival asked Mr. Shamkhani, "There are discussions that the process of collecting centrifuges from Fordow and Natanz had begun and was halted with a warning; is this correct?" Shamkhani replied, "That is correct." The Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council did not specify what was meant by "warning," but Alireza Zakani, head of the special committee reviewing the JCPOA in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated on November 8 that "the operation to reduce the number of centrifuges at nuclear facilities has been halted." According to Mehr news agency, he attributed this action to a letter from conservative representatives to Hassan Rouhani and added that "following the officials' warning, the collection of centrifuges has been halted at least in the Fordow complex." He did not mention the halt of centrifuge collection in Natanz. These statements come as the spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated on November 8: "We have not acted against any rules regarding the JCPOA so far, and we have not received orders from outside the government; we are proceeding based on our program." Behrouz Kamalvandi, in response to Alireza Zakani's remarks, told ISNA: "I believe this type of reflection of matters is incorrect, but God forbid, I do not want to say it is malicious. We take steps that we are sure of, and when we are sure, why should we stop? Therefore, it has not been the case that we were doing something and some people wanted it to stop." He added: "Regarding centrifuges, we have divided our activities into two parts. First, the centrifuges that are currently operational and active, which we are not dealing with for now. Second, the centrifuges that are not operational, but we are working on them, meaning they have not been operational for three to four years and are gradually being collected, but it is not the case that we will take this to the end and hand it over to the agency for now." The protesting conservative representatives have stated that as long as the conditions mentioned in the letter from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its first clause are not met, centrifuges should not be collected. Ayatollah Khamenei stated in the first clause of his letter that a written guarantee regarding the lifting of sanctions on Iran should be received from the President of the United States and the European Union. According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached on July 14 this year between Iran and six world powers in Vienna, Tehran agreed to limit its enrichment capacity at the Natanz facilities to a maximum of 5,060 IR-1 centrifuges for the first ten years. Reports indicate that Tehran has 19,000 active centrifuges, which are used for 3.5% and 20% enrichment. The collection of a large portion of these centrifuges is part of the agreement between Iran and the West to lift international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.