Iran has begun the process of deactivating and decommissioning the first of thousands of centrifuges.  The centrifuges are used for enriching uranium and this action is in response to Iran’s part of it’s commitment according to the nuclear deal reached with U.S. and other major world powers.  

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Kyodo News agency, during a visit to Japan, that the entire process will “take some time.”  

“We have already started to take our measures vis-a-vis the removal of the centrifuge machines — the extra centrifuge machines,” Ali Akbar Salehi told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, according to the Reuters news agency.

Iran needs to take most of its centrifuges, spread over two facilities, out of service, reducing their numbers from 19,000 to around 6,000. Also under the agreement Iran has promised to reduce its enrichment capabilities.

According to Reuters, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stated his approval of the nuclear deal, allowing the work to begin, but the lawmakers said that the pace at which the centrifuges are being decommissioned is in direct violation of the Ayatollah’s directives.  

On Tuesday,  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke to Iranian students in Tehran about mistrust for U.S. policies and the nuclear deal and said that the slogan “Death to America,” was directed at the U.S. government and not its people.  

“Your ‘Death to America’ slogan, and the cries by the Iranian nation, have strong logical support behind them,” he told the students, “Obviously by ‘Death to America’, we don’t mean death to the American people. The American nation is just like the rest of the nations. It … means death to U.S. policies and its arrogance.”