Iran enriching uranium to 60pc with ‘no credible civilian purpose’: US envoy

WASHINGTON, Oct 2: US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz has accused Iran of violating its nuclear obligations and refusing to abandon its nuclear programme.

“Iran broke the rules. They refused to abandon their nuclear ambitions,” Waltz told the UN Security Council.

“They are enriching uranium to 60 percent, which has no credible civilian purpose,” he said, adding that IAEA inspectors had been repeatedly denied access in Iran.

Waltz said the IAEA Board of Governors referred Iran to the UN Security Council for noncompliance “just two weeks ago” and accused Iranian negotiators of continuing to reject demands to give up the country’s nuclear programme.

Tehran has rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment, saying its nuclear programme is peaceful and that enrichment is a right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iranian officials have also accused the IAEA of politicisation and rejected recent resolutions against the country as politically motivated.

As the US-Israel war on Iran enters its eighth month, Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, tells Al Jazeera that the future of the conflict remains unclear.

“There are a number of sticking points in this conflict, like the Strait of Hormuz, the war on Lebanon and a number of other issues,” Elmasry said.

He added that US President Donald Trump’s recent deployment of 2,000 Marines to the Middle East makes any diplomacy unpredictable.

“I think we have to wait and see what ultimately happens,” he said. “I think my fear is that, right after the midterms, when Trump really doesn’t have anything to lose politically, he will choose to escalate, and the Iranians will actually issue an even harsher response this time around,” he added.

He pointed out that there are many energy targets throughout the Gulf, and with the help of allies like the Houthis in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, escalation from Iran’s side could be on its way.

At least one Iranian security personnel has been killed in an attack on a checkpoint near the city of Rask on the border with Pakistan, according to Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB.�" AL JAZEERA