US, UK, France and Germany lash out at Iran, saying it cannot be trusted

Washington/Tehran: Iran has made major changes to the arrangement of centrifuges and uranium enrichment at the Fordow Nuclear Project. Meanwhile, Iran has kept the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) uninformed. Therefore, the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany alleged in a joint statement that Iran, which has given assurances to the Western countries about the nuclear programme, cannot be trusted. Moreover, Iran has denied the report prepared by the IAEA. But the US and UK allies have picked up the information and targeted Iran. After meeting the US and France leaders with the Prime Minister of Israel, Western countries released this statement regarding Iran.

Moreover, Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Plant, built in a tunnel at the foot of a mountain, has been the target of international criticism. Israel had long ago accused Iran of initiating covert activities in the project, which was trying to build a nuclear bomb. Last year, the IAEA also expressed doubts over the figures for uranium enrichment in the said nuclear project. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, had claimed that the Uranium Enrichment Project would bring Iran closer to building a nuclear bomb.

Enraged, Iran had closed the project’s doors to the Commission’s inspectors. But the officials of the Commission had begun to criticise that this decision of Iran has strengthened the doubt about the Fordow Nuclear Project. After Iran lifted its ban on the Commission’s inspectors a few weeks ago, it was believed that the Fordow nuclear project would increase transparency. But on January 21, inspectors from the IAEA made a surprise visit to the Fordow project to inspect the nuclear programme. At this time, the Commission has said in its new report that it has seen a shocking change in the said project.

In addition, two new cascades of centrifuges were installed at the Fordow project. Simultaneously, the arrangement and connection of this cascade had been made in a very different way. The Commission alleged in its report that the layout of the new cascade and its further connections did not match as promised by Iran. Centrifuges at the Fordow Nuclear Plant have been producing highly enriched uranium with a purity of 60%, the Commission said in the report. Furthermore, this led to criticism that Iran was keeping the Commission in the dark about the activities of the Fordow Nuclear Project.

Besides, Iran had rejected the Commission’s allegations. Iran has said that the Commission handled the matter unprofessionally and the report gave wrong information. But taking note of this report, allies like the US, UK, France and Germany have reprimanded Iran. Iran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act by altering the layout of centrifuges and uranium enrichment at the Fordow Nuclear Plant and keeping the IAEA in the dark. Western countries criticised it in a joint statement that Iran can no longer be trusted with its nuclear obligations.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel last week and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It had been announced that there was a consensus between the US and Israel against the threat of Iran. Besides, Prime Minister Netanyahu visited France two days ago and discussed with President Macron regarding Iran. Moreover, the threat of Iran had been mentioned even at this time. After that, international analysts pointed out that Western countries have announced this against Iran.