Iran has restarted 20% uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility, as ratcheted tensions between Tehran and Washington threaten to further destabilize the oil-rich Middle East.
"Hours ago, the process of gas injection was started and within the next hours the first UF6-enriched uranium will be produced," government spokesperson Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by official website dolat.ir.
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Iran's new enrichment level is a further violation of the 2015 nuclear agreement signed with the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. The deal sought to restrict enrichment and uranium stockpiles in order to prohibit Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
The US withdrew from the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, including its energy industry, which has languished under the weight of restrictions on its oil exports.
The announcement of the enrichment resumption comes amid Iranian pressure on US President-elect Joe Biden to return to the 2015 deal and lift sanctions that have crippled the country, while outgoing US President Donald Trump has vowed to maintain his administration's maximum pressure campaign until he leaves office. Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
Iranian officials have said Tehran could reverse all steps taken in violation of the 2015 deal if the US fulfills its commitments under the JCPOA.
30-year low
Formerly OPEC's second largest crude producer, Iran has seen its output crushed by sanctions to about 2 million b/d in recent months – a 30-year low and half its peak levels from 2008, according to S&P Global Platts' OPEC production survey.
The Iranian government has already ordered its oil industry to prepare to ramp up production in anticipation of US sanctions relief under Biden.
But the 20% enrichment level will likely further stoke tensions between the US and Iran.
The US Navy has reversed a decision to withdraw an aircraft carrier from the Persian Gulf and will keep it in the region due to unspecified threats against Trump and other officials, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said Jan. 3, the one-year anniversary of the US' assassination of key Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil.
"Due to the recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other U.S. government officials, I have ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment," Miller said. "The USS Nimitz will now remain on station in the US Central Command area of operations. No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America."
Heightened tension between the two countries nearly led to military action when Tehran downed a US drone in June 2019, a year marked by attacks on oil tankers in the key choke point of Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
