28 Mar 2024
Thursday 19 July 2018 - 16:23
Story Code : 312736

Iran is uninterested in nuclear armament - Analyst

Sputnik - Irans rotor centrifuge factory came online Wednesday, but even though it will help Tehrans plans to increase its uranium enrichment capacity, the Middle Eastern country remains uninterested in pursuing nuclear weapons, an economist and political analyst told Sputnik.

On Wednesday, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi announced that the country's rotor centrifuge factory had come online, increasing Iran's uranium enrichment capacity to 190,000 separative work units (SWUs), its limit within the 2015 nuclear deal.

?The factory's establishment comes afterUS President Donald President Trump's pullout fromthe 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan ofAction (JCPOA) inMay.
Speaking toIranian TV channel IRIB onWednesday, Salehi announced the completion ofthe rotor plant, which has the capacity toproduce roughly 60 new centrifuges a day, and explained that the factory was built duringnuclear talks withworld powers.


Shabbir Razvi, an economist and political analyst, toldRadio Sputnik's Loud & ClearTuesday it is unclear why global leaders continue tobelieve that Iran is interested indeveloping nuclear weapons when the supreme leader inIran has repeatedly stated that it is uninterested indoing so, also adding that it is unlikely that Europe will help Iran salvage the JCPOA.
"There hasn't been foreign direct investment inIran," Razvi told hosts John Kiriakou and Walter Smolarek.
"However, there has been investment fromprovincial German banks who have no exposure tothe US market. We are literally weeks away fromthe new sanctions againstIran [by the US] coming intohold. There has been a schism that has been taking place betweenEurope and the USA. During the last week, US President Donald Trump has been toNATO and he has unruffled many feathers there withnumerous European leaders. [However], there are other countries that are very happy tobe business withIran, whether it's Russia, China and India," Razvi told Sputnik.


On Wednesday, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said that it risks its business if its invests inIran because ofthe US sanctions againstthe country.

"There is no European bank which is presently able todo businesses inor withIran," EIB president Werner Hoyer told the press Tuesday.
"When it comes toacting asa bank, you have tosee the limitations," Hoyer admitted. "We would risk the business model ofthe bank if we would be active inIran," he added.


However, he also described the JCPOA as "one ofthe finest pieces ofEuropean diplomacy" and stressed that it "should be preserved," EURACTIV reported Wednesday.

"You've got tolook atthe whole history ofIran's nuclear development," Razvi told Sputnik.

"Iran has very clearly, adamantly and categorically said overthe years that Iran is not interested inproducing nuclear armament. The only requirement is forenergy so that they can diversify fromdependence onoil and other sectors. When the supreme leader [Ali Khamenei] issues a ruling fromIslamic perspective that Iran is not interested innuclear armament, that particular statement is ignored byglobal leaders," Razvi said.


"I can't understand why the world leaders cannot understand this. The new sanctions that are going tocome inare not going tocripple Iran. Iran has quite remarkably sustained sanctions duringthe last 38-odd years. Most ofthe domestic consumer products are produced inIran," Razvi added.
The United States pulled outof the JCPOA inMay, despiteIran's continued compliance withthe agreement bynot pursuing a nuclear weapons program, asattested toby the International Atomic Energy Agency. The US pullout prompted the deal's other signatories, including Russia, China and several European powers, toscramble totry and salvage it. During his visit toEurope earlier this month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised the other JCPOA signatories' demonstration offirm political will toremain committed tothe deal. Last month, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that Tehran could not rule outwithdrawing fromthe JCPOA entirely if it is no longer inthe country's interests.


Following the pullout, the US promised toreimpose sanctions that had been lifted underthe terms ofthe 2015 nuclear deal and tointroduce new ones. The US also made threats toreduce Iranian crude oil exports "to zero," Sputnik reported Wednesday. Iran filed a lawsuit againstthe US inthe International Court ofJustice overWashington's unilateral imposition ofsanctions onTuesday.

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