Iran Nuclear Chief says Tehran to enrich uranium to 20% even after nuclear deal 

Iran will continue to enrich uranium to 20 per cent purity even after sanctions on it are lifted and a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers is revived, Iranian news agencies quoted the country’s Nuclear Chief as saying on Friday, and Reuters reports.

“(Uranium) enrichment … continues with a maximum ceiling of 60 per cent, which led Westerners to rush to negotiations, and it will continue with the lifting of sanctions by both 20 per cent and 5 per cent,” the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Eslami, was quoted by the semi-official news agency, Fars, as saying.

The 2015 deal restricts the purity to which Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent, far below the roughly 90 per cent that is weapons-grade, or the 20 per cent Iran reached before the deal. Iran is now enriching to various levels, the highest being around 60 per cent.

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