Iran has completed a facility to build advanced centrifuges.
In June, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the facility at the Natanz nuclear plant would be completed within a month.
Salehi’s statement in June came days after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered preparations to increase the country’s uranium enrichment capacity if the nuclear agreement collapsed.
Iranian officials will decide whether to quit the 2015 nuclear deal after studying a planned European package of economic measures that could help offset U.S. sanctions.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced that if the deal does not happen, Iran’s nuclear program will be stronger than ever. He warned that if another attack was launched against Iran’s nuclear scientists, the consequences would be disastrous.
Salehi spoke of Iran’s attempt to build a new facility at the Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is due to create more advanced centrifuges. These machines enrich uranium through a rapid flow of Uranium hexafluoride.
According to the nuclear deal, Iran is limited to using lower-level IR-1s centrifuges, but this new facility will allow Iran to develop more advanced models of IR-2, IR-4 and IR-6, which will quickly enrich uranium.
Salehi reiterated: “If we are to go back and leave the nuclear deal, we will definitely not return to the point we were before.” We will definitely be in a much higher position.
