As part of its efforts to pressure to Europe to secure financial transactions for sale of its oil in order to evade US sanctions, Iran has taken the third step of incrementally reducing its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The agreement is also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Sept. 9 that Iran had installed advanced IR-4, IR-5 and IR-6 centrifuges. The UN watchdog said the IR-6 centrifuges were installed but not yet tested. Under the JCPOA, Iran is permitted to use 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges for enrichment.