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US Warns Iran on Use of More Advanced Centrifuges

Steve Herman

   WHITE HOUSE - Iran is marking the 40th anniversary of the takeover of
   the U.S. Embassy in Tehran with an announcement that it is speeding up
   uranium processing.

   "We see this as a continuation of nuclear blackmail," a senior U.S.
   official remarked after Iran's nuclear chief claimed the country is now
   operating dozens of advanced centrifuges--a move that further goes
   against the 2015 agreement the country signed with a group of world
   powers.

   The announcement, according to the U.S. official, is an attempt by
   Tehran to get the worried European signatories of the nuclear deal
   known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Agreement to make concessions
   to Iran.

   U.S. President Donald Trump, asked later in the day by VOA what should
   be done about the new, advanced centrifuges, replied: "We're looking
   into that. We'll see."

   Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state
   television that Iran is operating the IR-6 centrifuges, which allow the
   processing of uranium much faster than the IR-1 centrifuges Iran was
   allowed to use under the JCPOA.

   Salehi also said Iran is working on the development of even faster
   centrifuges called the IR-9, which he claimed will work 50 times faster
   than the IR-1.

   This is "a big step in the wrong direction," according to a senior
   administration official, who added, "We call on nations to condemn
   Iran's escalatory steps."

   The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday rolled out new sanctions against
   Tehran, adding to the more than 1,000 already imposed on Iran's oil
   exports, its banks, financial transactions and the military leadership
   of the Islamic Republic.

   Among those targeted by the new sanctions are the heads of the armed
   forces general staff and the Iranian judiciary, as well as the son and
   the chief of staff of Ayatollah Ali Khameini--Iran's supreme leader.

   "These individuals are linked to a wide range of malign behaviors by
   the regime, including bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in
   1983 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, as well as
   torture, extrajudicial killings and repression of civilians," said
   Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement. "This action further
   constricts the supreme leader's ability to execute his agenda of terror
   and oppression."

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