Iran to Speed Up N. Activities in Case of US Sanctions

(FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political and International Security Affairs Hamid Baeidinejad warned that the country will accelerate its nuclear activities in case the US imposes any further sanctions on Tehran.

Addressing reporters at the Iranian embassy in Moscow on Wednesday, Baeidinejad said that Iran will increase the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges if the United States imposes new sanctions.

"Iran will certainly go ahead with its nuclear program (in case of new US sanctions). We are going to install more centrifuges," he said.

"Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program with the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) have reached an important and sensitive stage," Baeidinejad said.

Senior parliamentary officials in Tehran warned on Tuesday that they would reciprocate any new US Congress sanctions by requiring the Iranian government to annul the Geneva deal and speed up the country's peaceful nuclear program.

"Any new decision by the US congress (to impose sanctions), which will of course be a violation of the Geneva agreement, will face the Iranian parliament's serious reaction," Chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said.

We caution "the US congress not to do anything to make us require our government to cross over the accepted limitations that we have undertaken in the Geneva agreement and take a new step in our civilian peaceful nuclear activities", he added.

Boroujerdi explained that the Iranian parliament was preparing a bill which requires the government to give up its Geneva undertakings and resume (the 20-percent grade) uranium enrichment and progress in nuclear technology.

More than 220 Iranian lawmakers prepared and signed the bill of a law on Monday which necessitates the government to speed up the country's nuclear activities in case the US imposes any further sanctions on Tehran.

"The bill requires the government to annul the Geneva Interim agreement (inked by Iran and the world powers in November 2013) and resume all its nuclear activities in case of intensified US sanctions," Chairman of the parliament's Nuclear Committee Ebrahim Karkhaneyee told FNA.

"Based on the bill, removal of all sanctions at once is the Islamic Republic of Iran's precondition for implementation of any (possible) comprehensive nuclear deal," he added.

The motion came after the US congress (mostly grabbed by the Republicans) threatened to impose new sanctions against Iran, an issue which has been described as a redline by Tehran in the interim nuclear agreement reached with the world powers in November 2013.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani had earlier warned that the Iranian legislature would reciprocate any new US sanctions with intensifying nuclear activities, including enriching uranium to the 60% grade for industrial use.

In relevant remarks late January, Vice-Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabifard underlined that Tehran would revive and speed up its nuclear activities, including its enrichment program, in case the US refrains from removing all the sanctions against Iran under a final deal.

"The slightest measure by the US Congress to increase sanctions against Iran will oblige the Iranian parliament to take actions leading to progress of Iran’s nuclear goals and uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes,” Aboutorabifard said on Thursday.

The 10th round of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers was held in Vienna from November 18 to 24, where the seven nations decided to extend the talks until July after they failed to strike an agreement.

The latest round of the nuclear talks between the two sides was held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 18.

The two sides decided to continue their talk early in February.

Both Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) negotiators have underlined that cutting a final deal before the July 10 deadline is possible.