Within the first week of the year, the country had seized a South Korean tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and announced its return to 20% uranium enrichment, a massive breach of the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers.
The tanker seizure, Iran says, is in response to South Korea holding $7 billion of its cash, frozen as a result of U.S. sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran after pulling out of the deal in 2018. South Korea s foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the tanker s release.
The moves are sure to create a headache for the incoming Biden administration, whose top officials never wanted the nuclear deal officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA to be abandoned in the first place.
| UPDATED: 17:27, Tue, Jan 12, 2021
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Iran announced plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent fissile strength at its underground Fordow nuclear plant last week. This was a breach of the 2015 deal it struck with world powers to contain its disputed nuclear ambitions. A recent law passed by Iran’s hawkish Parliament states that Iran should increase its nuclear programme, in what could be a warning to the incoming Joe Biden administration.
‘A Dangerous Game Of Chicken’: Iran s Nuclear Ramp-up Another Challenge Facing Biden
KEY POINTS
Biden’s first goal is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon
Iran is tentatively scheduled to hold presidential elections in June
Iran and the U.S. could be on a collision course over the former s nuclear ambitions, leaving President-elect Joe Biden with delicate work to do during his first days in office.
Conservative leaders in the Iranian parliament are calling to enrich uranium to 20%, far greater than the permissible level outlined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the U.N.-backed nuclear agreement abandoned by President Donald Trump in 2018.