Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Saturday it has begun mechanical tests on its newest advanced nuclear centrifuge, even as the five world powers that remain in a foundering 2015 nuclear deal with Iran attempt to bring the U.S. back into the agreement.

Iran’s IR-9 centrifuge, when operational, would have the ability to separate uranium isotopes more quickly than the current centrifuges being used, thereby enriching uranium at a faster pace. The announcement carried on state TV came on Iran’s 15th annual “Nuclear Day.”

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Natanz nuclear site suffered a problem Sunday involving its electrical distribution grid just hours after starting up new advanced centrifuges that more quickly enrich uranium, state TV reported. It was the latest incident to strike one of Tehran’s most secure sites amid negotiations over the tattered atomic accord with world powers.

State TV quoted Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, announcing the incident.

(Reuters) - Iran imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country on Saturday to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported.

The lockdown affects 23 of the country’s 31 provinces, health ministry spokesman Alireza Raisi said. Businesses, schools, theatres and sports facilities have been forced to shut and gatherings are banned during the holy fasting month of Ramadan that begins on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - Iran imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country on Saturday to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported.

The lockdown affects 23 of the country’s 31 provinces, health ministry spokesman Alireza Raisi said. Businesses, schools, theatres and sports facilities have been forced to shut and gatherings are banned during the holy fasting month of Ramadan that begins on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani reiterated Iran’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation on Saturday while overseeing the launch of advanced centrifuges at the underground Natanz nuclear plant to mark National Nuclear Technology Day.

Iran has breached many restrictions imposed by a 2015 deal on its atomic activities in response to former president Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal in 2018. The two nations have laid out tough stances at indirect talks in Vienna this week on how to bring both back into full compliance with the accord.

TEHRAN, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian military commander said that Israel and the United States are suspected to be behind the recent attack on an Iranian ship in the Red Sea, Press TV reported on Friday.

Iran will "definitely" respond to the attack on the country's ship in the Red Sea, said Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces.

"We need to ascertain the source of the incident. If we uncover the source of the attack on the ship, we will definitely respond. We will never be silent," Shekarchi was quoted as saying.

08 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran has made 55 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to up to 20 per cent, indicating quicker production than the ten kilogramme a month rate required by an Iranian law that created the process in January, local media reported yesterday.

Iran has the capability to enrich uranium from 40 per cent to 60 per cent, spokesman of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said, according to the Fars News Agency.

08 Apr 2021; MEMO: An Iranian civilian ship, the Saviz, was attacked in the Red Sea on Tuesday resulted in "minor" damage to the vessel, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said yesterday.

"The explosion occurred at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday near the Djibouti coast and caused minor damage with no casualties," Khatibzadeh said in a statement, adding that "the vessel was a civilian ship stationed there to secure the region against pirates."

TEHRAN, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran has increased its uranium enrichment capacity to 16,500 separative work units (SWUs), Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), announced on Wednesday, official Islamic Republic News agency reported.

The AEOI announced that it had plans to boost the capacity of its uranium enrichment to 190,000 SWUs.

SWU is the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium during an enrichment process. One SWU is equivalent to 1 kg of separative work.

TEHRAN, April 7. /TASS/: Iran has vowed that it "will not accept a division of the Trump-era sanctions into JCPOA-related ones and those unrelated to the JCPOA", PressTV reported Wednesday citing its source.

According to an unnamed Iranian senior official, in order to return to the Iran nuke deal, all sanctions imposed during the Trump administration must be annulled, regardless whether they were imposed over the JCPOA or not.