Middle East

Iran announces new centrifuges on 40th anniversary of US embassy siege

The announcement came as Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the US embassy siege, when Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 90 people hostage, including 66 Americans."Today we are launching the 30-series chain of IR6 centrifuge machines," Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi of the Atomic Energy Organization told state television IRIB. "The number of centrifuges we have installed during these two months is about 15 new generation centrifuges, which is a huge achievement."The advanced centrifuge machines allows Iran to speed up its uranium enrichment. Under the terms of the nuclear deal, Tehran cannot use IR-6 centrifuges, among other models, to produce enriched uranium for at least ten years.The deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium with just over 5,000 of its first-generation IR-1 centrifuge machines and the nation was allowed to use advance centrifuges for research purposes only.

Scaling back commitments

Tehran has gradually scaled back its commitments to the nuclear deal after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran. US sanctions have crippled Iran's economy, causing the nation's currency to plummet and prices to soar. As a result, the economy has contracted and food and medical shortages are rampant. Trump says Iran 'better be careful' as Tehran increases uranium enrichmentIran announced in July that its stockpiles ofRead More – Source

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