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Iranian MP Mojtaba Zonnour, Chairman of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee in the Iranian Majles said that if the U.S. decides to return to the JCPOA, Iran must keep its nuclear accomplishments as leverage. He made these remarks in an interview that aired on Channel 5 (Iran) on May 5, 2021. Zonnour said that since the Americans left the JCPOA, Iran gained several nuclear achievements such as the installation of IR2m and IR-6 centrifuges, enriching uranium to 20% and 60%, and accumulating 4 tons of 4.2% enriched uranium. He explained that this is the Iranian leverage. Zonnour continued to say that if the U.S. returns to the JCPOA, Iran will agree to certain concessions, such as freezing its uranium production at 20% and 60% under IAEA supervision, but it would keep the enriched uranium it has produced. He added that if Iran will not be permitted to use the IR2m, IR-6 and IR-4 centrifuges they have installed, they must be allowed to have them rotate without being injected with gas. Zonnour said: "These are the tools that give us flexibility and constitute leverage." For more about Mojtaba Zonnour, see MEMRI TV clips No. 8652, 7544, and 7330.
Mojtaba Zonnour: "When [the U.S.] pulled out [from the JCPOA], our president [Rouhani] said that a disruptive element had left the agreement. Did they leave the agreement in order to disrupt it [from the outside], or was it really a disruptive element leaving the agreement? They left in order to disrupt it. Why? Because we had nothing in our hands. We had 11.8 tons of enriched uranium, which we turned into yellowcake."
Interviewer: "What do we have in our hands this time around?"
Zonnour: "This time we installed our new IR2m and IR-6 enrichment machines. We have enriched uranium to a degree of 20% and we have some quantity of it. We have enriched over 4 tons of uranium to a degree of 4.2%. We have enriched uranium to a degree of 60%. These are our accomplishments. This is our leverage.
[...]
"Our negotiators must not accept again the deception of the JCPOA. We must not give up our accomplishments so that the U.S. returns [to the agreement]. Today, America is out of the agreement and cannot use the 'snapback' mechanism. If it returns to the agreement and wants to activate this mechanism again, we must also have a trigger [we can activate], and we must keep our accomplishments. The most [we should let them] say is that we freeze the uranium enrichment to 20% and 60%, under IAEA supervision, but the uranium will remain in our possession, and we won't turn it into yellowcake or into raw uranium. If according to the JCPOA, only IR-1 machines can rotate, the IR2m, IR-6, and IR-4 centrifuges that we have installed should continue to rotate on standby without being injected with gas. These are the tools that give us flexibility and leverage."
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