Iran said to cease dismantling centrifuges

Decommissioning is required for compliance with nuclear deal, but hardliners object

By JTA and ToI Staff 11 November 2015, 2:08 am

Edit

An International Atomic Energy Agency inspector disconnects the connections between the twin cascades for 20% uranium production at Natanz nuclear power plant south of Tehran on January, 20, 2014 (Kazem Ghane/IRNA/AFP)

Iranian media is reporting that the government has stopped taking apart centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants.

The reported cessation on Tuesday follows the issuing of a letter, drafted by 20 conservative lawmakers, complaining that the process of complying with the nuclear deal was too rushed, according to Reuters.

The nuclear deal, negotiated between Iran and six world powers, including the United States, lifts economic sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program. Israel has staunchly opposed the deal, which was completed in July.

Last week, Iran announced it had begun shutting down inactive centrifuges, a process the country’s conservatives oppose.

The dismantling of centrifuges is one of the requirements of the nuclear deal; US Ambassador to Israel dan Shapiro told reporters on Tuesday that Iran had many steps to take to comply with the deal before sanctions would be lifted, and said this would take several months.

Only inactive centrifuges were being dismantled, according to Iranian reports.

Last week’s letter from hardliners to President Hassan Rouhani said that deactivating the centrifuges violated directives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.