TEHRAN – Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, has said based on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) there is no limit for enriching uranium for civilian uses.

 “In NPT there is no ceiling for enrichment,” Takht Ravanchi told the IRNA news agency published on Monday.

The ambassador said the level and amount of enrichment depends on whether it is going to be used for a nuclear power plant or for a submarine.

On January 4, Iran resumed enriching uranium to level of 20 percent.  The International Atomic Energy Agency was notified of the decision and it is monitoring the process.
“So long as activities are peaceful we have no problem based on the NPT,” the ambassador remarked.

Iran started to gradually remove cap on its nuclear activities based on paragraph 36 of the JCPOA, the official name for the 2015 nuclear agreement.

(Paragraph 36 provided a mechanism to resolve disputes and allows one side, under certain circumstances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is out of compliance.)

Takht Ravanchi went on to say that when Iran started to gradually reduced its commitments to the JCPOA it announced that “we no longer see any ceiling for ourselves.”

“In fact, we announced 20 percent at that time. We did not mention 20 percent but we said we do not see any ceiling for ourselves. Therefore, what we are now doing based on the ratification of the Majlis (Parliament) is not something new.”

The top diplomat also said it is too soon to make judgment on the approach of Joe Biden and his team toward the JCPOA.

He also said it is a reality that anti-Iran lobbies are active in the United States.

Cooperation between Arab countries and the Zionist regime have led to intensification of lobbies against Iran, he added. 
 

PA/PA