The resume of Iran nuclear discussions in Vienna

It was programmed that discussions about Iran’s nuclear program aimed to solve 2015 nuclear deal were resume Saturday, just after a day that Tehran declared that it began producing uranium at 60 percent purity.

Previously this week, the Islamic republic announced that it would intensify its enrichment of uranium, after an assault on its Natanz nuclear facility and it accused Israel.

The events have an impact on discussions in Vienna aimed at saving the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that then US president Donald Trump abandoned about three years ago.

On its part, the European Union stated that Saturday’s discussions would include EU officials and representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran. The aims of the talks are to decide which sanctions the US must lift and the procedures that Iran should take to obey on the accord.

Furthermore, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, spoke on Twitter about slow but steady progress in the negotiations on restoration of the nuclear deal.

Production uranium enriched to 60 percent of purity

The chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, affirmed that Iran was currently producing uranium enriched to 60 percent of purity, which taking the country closer to the 90 percent level necessary for use in a nuclear weapon. He stated, cited by Tasnim news agency: The enrichment of uranium to 60 percent is underway in Natanz.

Iran has always asserted that it is not seeking for an atomic bomb, but based on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) criteria, at that rate of production, it could take the Islamic republic 322 days to produce the amount of 60 percent enriched uranium required to make one bomb. According to the latest IAEA data, this would need that Iran should have a sufficient amount of 20 percent enriched uranium, while it doesn’t have.

The return from the nuclear commitments

Otherwise, Tehran has slowly returned from its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after the removal of Washington from the accord and started imposing sanctions.

It should note that the 2015 deal, which is known formally as the Common Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), provided Iran relief from sanctions in return for limitations on its nuclear program. Under the accord, Iran had committed to continue enrichment to 3.67 percent, although it had increased this rate to 20 percent in January.

Besides, negotiations that aimed to ensure the return of the US to the JCPOA and the lifting of sanctions continued this week in Vienna.