Tehran Stepping Back from All Curbs on Uranium Enrichment

Iran announced on Sunday that it would begin ignoring all limits on the enrichment of uranium imposed as part of a 2015 multilateral agreement aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons. “Iran will continue its nuclear enrichment with no restrictions… and based on its technical needs,” a government statement said, according to a televised report. Since the summer, Tehran has been taking incremental steps away from the limits imposed by the accord to protest the economic sanctions Washington reinstated starting in early 2018, when President Donald Trump announced that Washington was pulling out, calling the agreement too lax. The steps have had to do with the level and speed of enrichment, as well as the size of the stockpile. Sunday’s announcement came during a dramatic spike in tensions between Tehran and Washington over a Friday drone strike in Baghdad that killed Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force and a man seen by many as the second most powerful figure in the Islamic Republic.