Iran centrifuge plan alarms European trio

PARIS: Plans by Iran to install advanced centrifuges at its main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz are "deeply worrying", France, Germany and the UK said on Monday.

The three governments, dubbed the E3, said the plans were contrary to a 2015 agreement between Tehran and world powers that aimed to restrain Iran´s nuclear programme.

The deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), is "the best and currently the only way to monitor and constrain Iran’s nuclear programme," the three countries said. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last month that Iran had installed and begun operating advanced centrifuges at an underground section at Natanz. "Iran's recent announcement to the IAEA that it intends to install an additional three cascades of advanced centrifuges at the Fuel Enrichment Plant in Natanz is contrary to the JCPoA and deeply worrying," the E3 said. The three European powers said they had noted, "with great concern" a law passed by the Iranian parliament that would expand Iran’s nuclear programme and limit the IAEA´s monitoring access, saying this too would be "incompatible with the JCPoA and Iran´s wider nuclear commitments".