IAEA: Iran has 10kg of 60% enriched uranium

Iran has produced about ten kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday.

The agency condemned what it considered Iran’s lack of cooperation in implementing its nuclear programme monitoring mission, saying: “Since February 2021, verification and monitoring activities have been seriously impeded in light of Iran’s decision to stop implementing its nuclear commitments” under the 2015 agreement with major international powers.

The deal prevents Iran from enriching uranium to more than 3.67 per cent purity which is way below the 90 per cent threshold needed to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran began moving away from the terms of the deal after former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and imposed “unprecedented” sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

On 17 August, the agency reported that “Iran has accelerated its uranium enrichment to a percentage close to that needed to develop a nuclear weapon”, using two sets of advanced centrifuges, one of which enriches uranium to a purity of 60 per cent.

The Islamic Republic insists that its nuclear goals are entirely peaceful and that it is developing a new type of reactor fuel.

READ: IAEA pressures Iran as fate of talks on nuclear deal hangs in balance