Iran halts some commitments under nuclear deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discussed the country's commitment to the nuclear deal in a meeting. (AFP/File)
Updated 15 May 2019
Follow

Iran halts some commitments under nuclear deal

  • Iran warned they would halt some commitments after US withdrew from the deal
  • Iranian official said Iran will not abide with the limit of uranium production set in the nuclear deal

LONDON: Iran has officially stopped some commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following an order from its national security council, an informed official in the country’s atomic energy body told the ISNA news agency on Wednesday.
Last week, Iran notified China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom of its decision to halt some commitments under the nuclear deal, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed sanctions.
Under the nuclear deal, Tehran was allowed to produce low-enriched uranium with a 300-kg limit, and produce heavy water with a stock capped around 130 tons. Tehran could ship the excess amounts out of the country for storage or sale.
The official said Iran has no limit from now for production of enriched uranium and heavy water.
Iran’s initial moves do not appear to violate the nuclear deal yet. But Iran has warned that unless the world powers protect Iran’s economy from US sanctions within 60 days, Iran would start enriching uranium at higher level.
The European Union and the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain said they were still committed to the deal but would not accept ultimatums from Tehran.
The deal also caps the level of purity to which Iran can enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, far below the 90 percent of weapons grade. It is also well below the 20 percent level to which Iran enriched uranium before the deal.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran does not seek war with the United States despite mounting tensions between the two arch-enemies over Iranian nuclear capabilities and its missile program.
Khamenei also said Tehran would not negotiate with the United States on another nuclear deal.


Israel expands Lebanon strikes, killing 11

Updated 14 sec ago
Follow

Israel expands Lebanon strikes, killing 11

  • Israel expanded its air strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting the area around the presidential palace near Beirut and other areas south of the capital
BEIRUT: Israel expanded its air strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting the area around the presidential palace near Beirut and other areas south of the capital as well as strongholds of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, killing at least 11 people.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes over the weekend.
An air strike hit a hotel in Hazmieh on Wednesday, the first reported Israeli attack on the predominantly Christian area in Beirut’s suburbs near the presidential palace and several embassies.
Some rooms were gutted in the strike, while wounded people received treatment in the lobby, AFP images showed.
People also fled through debris carrying suitcases past the Comfort Hotel’s sign, which had fallen broken to the ground. It was not possible to determine who was targeted in the attack.
The southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, were targeted again on Wednesday morning, following an evacuation order from Israel’s military.
Smoke rose over the densely populated area, where some residents fled when the violence erupted.
In Aramoun and Saadiyat south of Beirut — two towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds — the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded eight others. It cautioned that this was a “preliminary toll.”
AFP footage from Aramoun showed damaged cars and rescue workers carrying a wounded person on a stretcher.
Strikes also targeted a four-story building in the city of Baalbek, in Lebanon’s east far from the border where Hezbollah also has a strong presence.
Five people were killed, 15 were wounded and three remain missing, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
One side of the building collapsed. AFP correspondents saw rescue workers searching through the rubble for survivors.

- Ground incursion -

The Israeli military called on people to “immediately” leave 13 towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning ahead of strikes against Hezbollah, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
A similar evacuation warning had earlier been issued for 16 other southern towns and villages.
Hezbollah carried out a series of strikes against Israel on Tuesday, claiming to have targeted sites including the northern Haifa naval base in retaliation for Israeli strikes in southern Beirut.
Since Monday, Israeli strikes have killed at least 50 people and wounded 335 in Lebanon, the health ministry said before the overnight strikes.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said three paramedics were killed and six injured “while recovering people injured by explosions” in Lebanon’s southern Tyre district.
“Warring parties must abide by international humanitarian law and protect health workers, facilities and patients,” he said on X.
Lebanese authorities on Monday recorded the displacement of more than 58,000 people from areas targeted by strikes.
The Israeli military has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until the Lebanese group disarms.
Israeli forces also launched a ground incursion on Tuesday, advancing into a border area in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese army source told AFP.