Tehran prepares to speed up nuclear work, amid the Israeli threats to form a military coalition against Iran

Tabnak – Hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader ordered for the speeding up of work on the country’s uranium enrichment capacity, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy organization declared that preparations are being made for this purpose. In response, the Israeli regime has called for a military coalition to be formed against the Islamic Republic.

In this vein, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi says the country is capable of increasing the level of uranium enrichment capacity to 190,000 SWU (Separative Work Unit) within one and a half to two years.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Salehi highlighted the AEOI’s latest measures following an order by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei for preparations for the enrichment of uranium up to a level of 190,000 SWU without any delay within the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal.

For the production capacity of 190,000 SWU, among other things a hall to assemble centrifuges is needed, he said, adding that many of the preparations for it have been made and it is hoped that the hall would be fully prepared within one or two months.

“But this does not mean the mass production of centrifuges,” Salehi noted, adding that facilities in this hall are in place so that if “the JCPOA collapses, God forbid, we will not (have to) seek to build a hall (from scratch)”.

In case the JCPOA collapses, the capacity of this hall would be such that the country can reach the production capacity of 190,000 SWU within one and a half to two years, the nuclear chief went on to say.

He made the announcements less than a day after Ayatollah Khamenei urged preparations for a potential collapse of the Iran deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) following the US’s withdrawal.

Late on Monday, the AEOI said it is starting a process to accelerate the preparation of infrastructure for the manufacturing of centrifuge rotors and boosting the domestic capacity for the production of UF4 and UF6 gases.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told ISNA news agency that Iran will inform the IAEA of the start of the process to increase the production capacity of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a chemical compound which serves as feedstock for centrifuges.

Meanwhile, reacting to these developments, Israel has proposed that “a military coalition” be formed against Iran in case Tehran pursues “military-grade” uranium enrichment, suggesting that the military force would comprise of the Israeli regime, the US, the Western states and their Arab allies.

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz claimed that Iran had once been running an “unsupervised” enrichment scheme with the potential of arming the country with nuclear weapons.

Washington and Tel Aviv, and to a lesser extent their Western and Arab partners, have claimed that Tehran’s nuclear energy program harbors military aspects. Iran has strictly and in all circumstances denied pursuing any military ambitions through its nuclear work.