Photo Credit: Hamed Malekpour / Wikimedia / CC4.0
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Head of Atomic Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi in National Atomic Technology day celebration. April 7, 2016
A day before an âelectrical incidentâ reportedly took Iranâs Natanz nuclear facility offline on Sunday, the head of the countryâs Atomic Energy Organization said a full chain of advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges had begun operation at the site, years ahead of schedule.
Ali-Akbar Salehi told Iranâs Channel 1 that the chain of 164 IR-6 centrifuges were to have gone into operation only in seven to eight years. Iran now had an enrichment capacity of 16,500 SWU (separative work units), he said, compared to just 13,000 SWU in 2013, prior to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear accord.
The incident threatens to undermine recently revived diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
Newly inaugurated centrifuges at Iran s Natanz facility, a centerpiece of the country s contentious nuclear program, appeared to have been badly damaged in Sunday s incident, which Tehran has described as an act of nuclear terrorism .
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Men work inside of an uranium conversion facility just outside the city of Isfahan, about 410 kilometres south of capital Tehran, Iran. The cities of Isfahan and Natanz in central Iran are home to the heart of Iran s nuclear program.(Getty)
Israel s army chief hinted at possible Israeli involvement in the attack in comments on Sunday.
South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun affirms that the country should "quickly" return billions of dollars of frozen money to Iran as tensions between the two countries ease.