Iran’s nuclear programme takes a dangerous step

THE FORDOW nuclear plant in northern Iran would make an ideal lair for a Bond villain. Russian-made surface-to-air missiles guard the skies around it. The facility itself is buried under a mountain. Several hundred feet down, in two cavernous halls, neat rows of centrifuges spin uranium gas to produce fissile isotopes, which could be used for nuclear energy—or, if concentrated enough, a nuclear bomb.

Such activity is prohibited under the deal that Iran signed with six world powers in 2015. Iran agreed to cease enrichment at Fordow for 15 years, keeping only 1,044 centrifuges spinning for scientific purposes. But on November 6th it began injecting uranium gas into those centrifuges for the first time in four years. The move heralds a new, more dangerous phase in the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The trouble started last year, when President Donald Trump removed America from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran. For a year Iran continued to abide by the agreement, hoping the other signatories—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—would provide economic relief. But it lost patience in April, when America ended waivers that allowed some countries to import Iranian oil.

Since then Iran has been taking steps away from the nuclear deal. In June its stockpile of low-enriched uranium exceeded the...

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