IRAN’S president has announced that Tehran will begin injecting uranium gas into 1044 centrifuges.
It is the country’s latest step away from its nuclear deal with world powers since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord over a year ago.
The development is significant as the centrifuges previously spun empty, without gas injection, under the landmark 2015 nuclear accord. It also increases pressure on European nations that remain in the accord, which at this point has all but collapsed.
In his announcement, President Hassan Rouhani did not say whether the centrifuges, which are at its nuclear facility in Fordo, would be used to produce enriched uranium. The centrifuges would be injected with the uranium gas today, Rouhani said.
His remarks were broadcast live on Iranian state television.
MEANWHILE, China’s Huawei will take part in the construction of Hungary’s next-generation 5G wireless network.
Hungary foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said in Shanghai, China, that Huawei will be cooperating with Britain’s Vodafone and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom in the project.
He added that Hungary does not discriminate between companies based on their country of origin, as long as they respect Hungary’s laws and regulations.
The US has tried to persuade allies to shun Huawei, which it considers a security risk.
It was a key issue during a February meeting in Budapest between Szijjarto and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
ELSEWHERE, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Russia and the US to keep to their promises to ensure that Syrian Kurdish fighters pull out of Syrian borders areas with Turkey.
Erdogan said the Kurdish fighters are still present in several areas.
Erdogan also said yesterday that Turkish troops are being attacked by some Syrian Kurdish fighters from areas they had retreated to, adding that Turkey would not “remain a spectator” to these assaults.
Two ceasefire agreements, brokered by the US and Russia, halted Turkey’s military offensive into Syria to allow for the Kurdish fighters to withdraw about 19 miles away from the border.
FINALLY, Vietnamese state media have reported another arrest in connection with dozens of migrants found dead in a lorry in Essex.
The reports cite police as saying a suspect had organised for people to travel to Russia before being smuggled to the West.
The state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported an arrest was made in Nghe An province on Monday in relation to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in a refrigerated truck container.
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