Perspective: Nuclear weaponsIran Threatens to Take Steps to Stockpile of Uranium for Nuclear Weapons

Published 9 September 2019

Iran said Saturday it had accelerated its nuclear research work and threatened to take fresh steps within a month that could allow it to expand its stockpile of enriched uranium, a material that can be used to fuel a nuclear weapon. The move comes after Europe failed to meet a deadline Iran set in July to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions.

Iran said Saturday it had accelerated its nuclear research work and threatened to take fresh steps within a month that could allow it to expand its stockpile of enriched uranium, a material that can be used to fuel a nuclear weapon.

Isabel Coles and Laurence Norman write in the Wall Street Journal that the move comes after Europe failed to meet a deadline Iran set in July to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration abandoned a multi-nation nuclear deal last year and has intensified pressure on Iran’s economy in a campaign to roll back Tehran’s military activities in the region.

Tehran signaled its intent Thursday to breach key tenets of the nuclear deal, after Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Thursday sent a letter to the European Union’s foreign-policy chief, Federica Mogherini, outlining those steps.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, provided more detail of how the Islamic Republic was pushing past limits of the deal.