BICOM

According to an Iranian news report, Tehran’s leadership is planning to use its advanced IR-8 centrifuges as soon as a nuclear accord is agreed, although this would appear to entirely contradict the United States’s interpretation of the deal under discussion.

Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) agreed a framework to a comprehensive deal last week, paving the way for negotiations to begin over the details of a potential accord, which must be agreed by June. However, both sides have since emphasised differing aspects of the nascent deal, indicating that a final agreement remains far off.

Yesterday, the semi-official Iranian FARS news agency reported that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif and atomic agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi briefed Iranian parliamentarians on last week’s deal outline behind closed doors. Apparently, they told MPs that “the country would inject UF6 gas into the latest generation of its centrifuge machines as soon as a final nuclear deal goes into effect by Tehran and the six world powers.” The report also quoted Javad Karimi Qoddousi, a member of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission saying that Zarif and Salehi “informed that gas will be injected into IR-8 (centrifuge machines) with the start of the (implementation of the) agreement.”

The IR-8 centrifuge is reported to enrich uranium up to 20 times faster than the IR-1 model currently being used. Use of the IR-8 centrifuge would appear to wholly contradict the United States’s understanding of last week’s preliminary agreement, indicating that confusion remains between the two sides over the terms of an eventual accord. Parameters to last week’s deal published by the US State Department clearly state “Iran will not use its IR-2, IR-4, IR-5, IR-6, or IR-8 models to produce enriched uranium for at least ten years.”

Also yesterday, Israel Radio reported that Zarif claimed Iran could produce an atomic bomb at any time, but would not do so due to Islamic religious injunctions.