Tehran is enriching uranium to 5 percent with new centrifuges, a move seen as a pressure tactic. Weapons-grade enrichment levels are around 90 percent, according to the IAEA report.
Saturday 30 November 2024
Washington (News International New - 30 November 2024) The UN nuclear watchdog has said that Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of modern centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz, further increasing tensions over Tehran’s program, which is currently enriching near weapons-grade levels.
According to the US broadcaster, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s notice only mentioned that Iran is enriching uranium to 5 percent purity with the new centrifuges, which is much lower than the 60 percent it currently has, possibly indicating that it is still willing to talk to the West and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who withdrew from the deal in 2018 under former President Trump.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the IAEA report. Tehran threatened to accelerate its nuclear program after the IAEA’s Board of Governors condemned Iran for failing to fully cooperate with the agency at a meeting in November. In a statement, the IAEA outlined the plans Iran had informed it about, including uranium enrichment in about 45 cascades of its most advanced IR-2M, IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges. Cascades are a group of centrifuges that enrich uranium more rapidly. Each of these advanced centrifuges enriches uranium more rapidly than Iran’s basic IR-1 centrifuges that have long been a reliable part of Tehran’s nuclear program.
The IAEA did not say how many centrifuges each cascade will have, but Iran has in the past put about 160 centrifuges in a single cascade. It is not clear whether Iran has yet started enriching uranium in centrifuges. Tehran has been vague about its plans, but starting enrichment at 5 percent would be beneficial for Tehran in negotiations with the West and is also a pressure tactic. Weapons-grade enrichment is around 90 percent. Tehran has been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels since the collapse of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal in 2018, but US intelligence agencies and others believe Iran has not yet begun a nuclear weapons program. The US State Department said in a statement that it was deeply concerned by Iran's announcement that it was choosing a path of continued enrichment rather than cooperation with the IAEA.
The statement said there was no credible civilian justification for Iran's continued production and stockpiling of 60 percent enriched uranium. Iran, as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, has pledged to allow the IAEA to visit its nuclear sites to verify that its program is peaceful.
Tehran also agreed to additional monitoring by the IAEA as part of the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for severely limiting its program. However, for years Iran has restricted inspectors' access to those sites, while also not fully answering questions about other sites where nuclear material was found in the past after the deal was scrapped. In recent months, Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Peshmerga, have signaled a willingness to negotiate with the West, but Iran has also carried out two attacks on Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.
An Iranian diplomat, Kazem Gharibabadi, has stated in a post on the social media platform that he met with an EU diplomat, Enrique Mora, in which he criticized Europe's irresponsible behavior. On the other hand, Mora, on the other hand, described his frank discussions with Kazem Gharibabadi and another Iranian diplomat on "X", writing that in these talks, Iran's military assistance to Russia was discussed, which must be stopped to avoid further tension on all sides, the important nuclear issue, which requires a diplomatic solution, as well as regional tensions and human rights.
Comments
Post a Comment