Status: 11/22/2022 1:04 p.m
Iran has started to enrich uranium to 60 percent in another plant. Experts are alarmed: 90 percent is needed for nuclear weapons. This higher enrichment is technically only one step away.
Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60 percent at the Fordow nuclear facility. The Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (AEOI) announced that the enrichment in the underground facility in central Iran was a reaction to a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA had criticized Iran for denying its inspectors access and monitoring of nuclear facilities. The authority had indirectly threatened to involve the UN Security Council.
Iran did not provide any information on the amount of uranium enriched in Fordo. The Islamic Republic is already enriching uranium to 60 percent in Natan. Technically, this is only one step away from enrichment to 90 percent – atomic bombs can be built from the uranium enriched to this extent.
Experts: Uranium is enough for at least one atomic bomb
The IAEA said in mid-November that it believed Iran had increased its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, but that it could not check the exact inventory because Iran had restricted its inspectors’ access to nuclear facilities and removed surveillance equipment.
Experts have warned in recent months that Iran has so much uranium enriched to 60 percent that, if processed further, it would be enough for at least one nuclear bomb.
Tehran: Nuclear program serves peaceful purposes
In 2015, Iran agreed with the five UN veto powers and Germany to redesign its nuclear program so that it cannot build nuclear bombs. In return, economic sanctions were relaxed.
After the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, Tehran began enriching uranium beyond the permitted level of four percent. A US return to the agreement is currently being negotiated. The government in Tehran asserts that it has never sought nuclear weapons – its nuclear program serves peaceful purposes.