Iran takes another step away from nuclear deal

Iran will start putting uranium gas into over a thousand centrifuges at a nuclear facility, the country’s president said Tuesday, the latest step the country is taking in moving away from the 2015 nuclear deal that President Trump pulled the U.S. out of last year. 

The Fordo nuclear facility, which is inside a mountain, will become an active atomic site, rather than a research site as outlined by the 2015 deal, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

{mosads}The AP reported that Russian nuclear company Rosatom will work to convert the site.

Fordo’s 1,044 centrifuges were previously empty under the deal, according to the wire service.

“We are aware of their sensitiveness toward the Fordo facility and those centrifuges,” President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying in a televised speech. “At the same time, we cannot tolerate unilateral fulfillment of our commitments and no commitment from their side”

Iran has previously announced that it would enrich uranium by more than the accord’s 3.67 percent cap and stockpiled more uranium than it was allowed to under the deal. 

Rouhani said its breaches of the deal so far could be reversed if Europe finds a way for Iran to evade U.S. sanctions on its oil sales, according to the AP.

“We should be able to sell our oil,” Rouhani said. “We should be able to bring our money” into the country.