Iran has now enriched uranium to 84%, to the level of a nuclear weapon
Last week , inspectors from the United Nations atomic agency discovered 84% enriched uranium in Iran, a level just below that needed for nuclear weapons.
In January, IAEA Director-General Grossi told European Parliament lawmakers that Iran had "stockpiled enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons – not one at this point." Speaking of Iran's recent atomic activities, including enriching uranium well beyond the limits of the landmark 2015 deal to limit its nuclear capabilities, Grossi said Tehran's trajectory toward nuclear weapons "is certainly not Good".
The latest development comes as Iran is increasingly isolated from the West and nuclear talks with world powers remain suspended. The country has also faced broad condemnation for cracking down on major protests, and the United States and European Union have tightened sanctions against Iran for its military support for Russia's war on Ukraine.
The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in Iran. Director General @rafaelmgrossi states that the IAEA is discussing with Iran the results of recent Agency verification activities and will inform the IAEA Board of Governors as appropriate. pic.twitter.com/4Aqdq01Xr5
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency
(@iaeaorg) February 19, 2023
As Bloomberg notes, inspectors must now determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material or whether the concentration was an unintentional buildup within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of rapidly rotating centrifuges used to separate the isotopes. It is the second time this month that observers have detected suspicious enrichment-related activity.
According to a diplomat, Iran has failed to submit the required forms to declare its intention to increase uranium enrichment levels at two facilities near the cities of Natanz and Fordow. Even though the detected material was accumulated by mistake due to technical difficulties in operating the centrifuge cascades – which has happened before – this underscores the danger of Iran's decision to produce highly enriched uranium, the other said. diplomatic. The IAEA has stated that enrichment levels, even as low as 60%, are technically indistinguishable from the level needed for a nuclear weapon. Most nuclear reactors use material enriched at 5% purity.
The news comes hours after Israel blamed Iran for a Feb. 10 attack on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea on Sunday. The incident came two weeks after a drone strike on an arms depot near the Iranian city of Isfahan, which Tehran blamed on Israel.
Iran's deal with world powers, known as the JCPOA, collapsed after the US withdrew in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. The JCPOA granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions and inspections of its nuclear facilities. After Washington withdrew, arguing that the deal didn't go far enough in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the Iranians abandoned many of their commitments to the pact and ramped up uranium enrichment. The agreement had set a maximum enrichment threshold of 3.67%.
Negotiations that began in April 2021 to revive the agreement then stalled. In November, Iran said it had begun producing 60% enriched uranium at Fordo, an underground facility that reopened three years ago after the JCPOA was broken.
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The article Iran has now enriched uranium to 84%, at the level of a nuclear weapon comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/liran-ormai-ha-arricchito-luranio-all84-a-livello-di-arma-nucleare/ on Mon, 20 Feb 2023 08:53:31 +0000.