Iran announces expansion of its uranium enrichment program

by WorldTribune Staff, June 6, 2018

The head of Iran’s nuclear agency has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the Islamic Republic is opening a center for new centrifuges for uranium enrichment at its Natanz nuclear site.

Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility

Ali Akbar Salehi, chief of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization, said the expansion does not violate the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 with world powers. Under the agreement, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran can build parts for the centrifuges as long as it does not put them into operation within the first decade of the signing.

President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 5, in response to Iran’s announcement, said “The day before yesterday Ayatollah Khamenei, the ruler of Iran, declared his intention to destroy the State of Israel. Yesterday he explained how he would do this – with the unrestricted enrichment of uranium in order to produce an arsenal of nuclear bombs. We are not surprised. We will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.”

On June 4, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for his country to increase its nuclear capability.

“Iranian nation & government will not stand being under both sanctions & nuclear restrictions,” Khamenei tweeted. “The Atomic Energy Organization of #Iran must immediately make the preparations for achieving 190K SWU – for now within #JCPOA – starting tomorrow.”

In another tweet, Khamenei called Israel “a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated.”

Israel responded by posting a gif of the teen movie “Mean Girls” that reads “Why are you so obsessed with me?”


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