Iran fires up uranium enrichment centrifuges at Fordow plant

Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant south of Tehran on Thursday.

Inside the Fordow plant. Picture: AFP

Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant south of Tehran on Thursday in a new step back from its commitments under a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Engineers began feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into the plant’s mothballed centrifuges.

The suspension of enrichment at the plant was one of the restrictions Iran had agreed to on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of UN sanctions.

Iran’s announcement on Wednesday it would resume enrichment at Fordow had drawn a chorus of concern from the remaining parties to the agreement. Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia have been trying to salvage the deal since Washington abandoned it in May last year and reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions.

AFP