Iran prepared to resume enriching uranium ‘within days’

By Omid Shamizi and Mustafa Melih Ahishali</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Iran is prepared to resume its uranium-enrichment activities whenever necessary, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, said Wednesday. </p> <p>“We are ready to resume production of highly-enriched uranium within four days,” Salehi told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the capital Tehran.</p> <p>What’s more, he asserted, Iran is no longer bound by the terms of its 2015 nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany). </p> <p>The 2015 agreement had called for strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of longstanding U.S. sanctions on Tehran.</p> <p>Earlier Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would resume its uranium-enrichment activities if his country’s interests — as they pertain to the 2015 deal — were not guaranteed within 60 days.</p> <p>Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal before re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking sectors.