A general view of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, some…
Sunday, 5 May, 2019 – 08:00 –
London- Asharq Al-Awsat
As the US intensifies its pressure campaign aimed at curbing Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its regional influence, the Iranian clerical-led regime reaffirmed its plans to resume enriching uranium, heavy (deuterium0-based) water and exporting oil.
Speaker Ali Larijani said Tehran would continue to enrich uranium and produce heavy water, regardless of restrictions on shipping abroad.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, for his part, warned that the recent host of US economic sanctions, a part of Washington strategy to counter Iranian malicious behavior, risks stoking internal tensions. Reformists in Rouhani’s administration and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei loyalists have been at odds on Iran’s response policy to pressure.
“Under the [nuclear accord] Iran can produce heavy water and this is not in violation of the agreement. Therefore, we will carry on with enrichment activity,” the semiofficial Iranian news agency, ISNA, quoted Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani as saying on May 4.
“We will enrich Uranium whether you move to buy it or not,” Larijani said.
On May 3, the US President Donald Trump’s administration slapped new restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities as it looks to force Tehran to stop producing low-enriched uranium and expanding its only nuclear power plant, intensifying a campaign aimed at halting Tehran’s ballistic missile program and curbing its regional power.
Despite increasing pressure on Iran, the United States on May 3 extended five sanction waivers that will allow Russian, China, and European countries to continue to work with Iran’s civilian nuclear program at Bushehr. But it said it may punish any activity that expands the site.
At the same time, the State Department said it was ending two waivers related to Iranian exports of enriched uranium in what it called “the toughest sanctions ever on the Iranian regime.” All of the waivers were due to expire on May 4.
The 45- to 90-day extensions were shorter than the 180 days granted previously but can be renewed.
It was the third punitive action taken against Iran in as many weeks. Last week, it said it would grant no more sanctions waivers for countries buying Iranian oil, accelerating its plan to push Iran’s oil exports to zero. The Trump administration also took the unprecedented step of designating Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.
“The Trump administration continues to hold the Iranian regime accountable for activities that threaten the region’s stability and harm the Iranian people. This includes denying Iran any pathway to a nuclear weapon,“ State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.
The Trump administration pulled out of the nuclear accord a year ago and vowed „maximum pressure“ aimed at curbing the regional role of Iran.”
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Saturday, 4 May, 2019 – 12:15 –
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will open an office in Iraq. (Reuters)
Asharq Al-Awsat
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will open an office in Iraq, the semi-official Fars News Agency said on Saturday.
The new office “will facilitate cooperation in the oil industry and the transfer of engineering and technical services” to Iraq, it said.
The announcement comes as Iran faces US sanctions on its oil exports.
Earlier, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran must counter the sanctions by continuing to export its oil as well as boosting non-oil exports.
His comments, carried live on Iranian TV, came a day after Washington acted to force Iran to stop producing low-enriched uranium and expanding its only nuclear power plant, intensifying a campaign aimed at halting its ballistic missile program and curbing its regional power.
“America is trying to decrease our foreign reserves … So we have to increase our hard currency income and cut our currency expenditures,” Rouhani said.
“Last year, we had we non-oil exports of $43 billion. We should increase production and raise our (non-oil) exports and resist America’s plots against the sale of our oil.”
Friday’s move, which Rouhani made no direct reference to, was the third punitive US action taken against Iran in as many weeks.
Last week, it said it would stop waivers for countries buying Iranian oil, in an attempt to push Iran’s oil exports to zero. The United States also blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Efforts by the Trump administration to impose political and economic isolation on Tehran began with last year’s US withdrawal from the nuclear deal it and other world powers negotiated with Iran in 2015.
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