IAEA in talks with Iran after reported nuclear step-up

In response to a media story that suggested inspectors had discovered that the Islamic Republic had increased nuclear enrichment, the UN’s nuclear watchdog on Sunday said it was in talks with Iran.

According to Bloomberg News, IAEA inspectors visited Iran last week and discovered uranium that had been purified to 84 percent enrichment.

Iran was last known to enrich to a maximum of 60%, but a minimum of 90% is needed for use in a weapon.

The allegation comes as talks to resurrect a historic agreement about Iran’s nuclear program are at a standstill.

“The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in Iran,” the Vienna-based agency wrote on Twitter.

The IAEA Board of Governors would be informed as necessary. It continued by saying that it was “discussing with Iran the outcomes of recent agency verification activities.”

In 2019, a year after the US withdrew from the historic agreement and reinstituted sanctions, Iran began to ramp up its nuclear program.

Iran was promised reprieve from sanctions as part of the 2015 agreement in exchange for limiting its nuclear program.

The pact has been the subject of ongoing negotiations between world powers since 2021, but they have stopped since last year.

Bloomberg said “inspectors need to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material, or whether the concentration was an unintended accumulation.

“It’s the second time this month that monitors have detected suspicious enrichment-related activities,” it added.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, stated in January that Iran has “accumulated enough nuclear material for numerous nuclear bombs — not one at this point.”

Iran said its uranium enrichment capabilities had reached historic highs in December.

Tehran has adamantly maintained that it has no plans to develop a nuclear weapon.

This article has been posted by a News Hour Correspondent. For queries, please contact through [email protected]
No Comments