UN atomic watchdog confirms Iran installing new centrifuges

The UN's atomic watchdog confirmed Monday that Iran is preparing to use more advanced centrifuges, another breach of limits set in the country's unravelling nuclear deal with major powers.

Iran had already announced the step, its latest violation of the 2015 agreement as it tries to pressure European signatories to find a way to maintain oil shipments and ease the toll of U.S. sanctions on the Iranian economy.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported its inspectors verified the installation of new centrifuges. The agency said all had been "prepared for testing" but none yet tested at the time of the Sept. 7-8 inspection.

The nuclear deal was meant to keep Tehran from building atomic weapons something Iran denies it wants to do in exchange for economic incentives. Its collapse started with the United States unilaterally withdrawing from the deal last year and imposing increased sanctions.

The other signatories Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, as well as the European Union have been struggling to salvage the agreement and find a way to meet Tehran's demands.

This comes as Iran on Monday rejected a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tehran had been developing nuclear weapons at a secret site and said he was seeking a pretext for war.

"The possessor of REALnukes cries wolf," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet, a reference to Israel's own presumed nuclear arsenal.

Netanyahu said Monday that Tehran had been developing nuclear weapons at a secret site in Abadeh in Iran but had destroyed the facility after learning it had been exposed.

Pushing beyond deal's limits

To put pressure on them, Iran has already pushed past limits in the deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),on nuclear enrichment purity and stockpiles of enriched uranium.

A centrifuge is a device that enriches uranium by rapidly spinning uranium hexafluoride gas. The IAEA said the ones its inspectors saw included 30 advanced IR-6 and three IR-6s models, as well as multiple IR-4 and IR-5 models.

Under the atomic accord, Iran has been limited to operating 5,060 older model IR-1 centrifuges.

Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, downplayed the development, saying after Iran revealed its step about centrifuges that the move "shouldn't be overdramatized."

"Yes, it's another deviation from JCPOA, but new activities will remain verifiable by IAEA and reversible," he said in a tweet. "No proliferation threat, just a strong signal that balance within the JCPOA must be restored."

IAEAacting director general Cornel Feruta, who returned from Tehran on Sunday night, told the agency's board in Vienna on Monday that inspectors on the ground continue "to verify and monitor Iran's nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA."

He said he emphasized to Iranian authorities "the importance of full and timely co-operation by Iran."

That mirrored a line in a recent IAEA report on Iran that suggested Tehran wasn't as forthcoming with answering questions as the agency hoped.

"I also stressed the need for Iran to respond promptly to agency questions related to the completeness of Iran's safeguards declarations," Feruta said.

After the report, China blamed the United States for the situationand called for world powers to stick to the 2015 deal with Tehran.

"The U.S. should abandon wrong practices such as unilateral sanctions and maximum pressure on Iran," Foreign Ministry spokespersonHua Chunying said in Beijing.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been talking both to Washington and Tehran about a proposal to create a $15-billion USline of credit for Iran to entice it to remain in the nuclear deal.

Rainer Breul,German Foreign Ministry spokesperson,told reporters that Berlin supports the French president's efforts to resume talks and de-escalate the situation.

"There are confidential conversations among the partners about the specific details," Breul said. "Various news reports are circulating that we won't comment on further."

He reiterated that Germany considers Iran's centrifuge plans "a step in the wrong direction.

"We call on Iran to meet its commitments under the JCPOA and to return to them."